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STORIES 



OF 



PERSONS AND PLACES 
IN EUROPE 






BY 



E. L. BENEDICT 



COPIOUSLY ILLUSTRATED 



SEP 30188"' 



GEORGE ROUTEEDGE AND SONS 

New-York: 9 LAFAYETTE Place 
London: Broadway, Ludoatb Hill 



IN UNIFORM STYLE. 

Copiously Illustrated. 



D'AULNOY'S FAIRY TALES. 
MATTIE'S SECRET. 

ONE HUNDRED FAMOUS AMERICANS. 
HEROES OF AMERICAN DISCOVERY. 
GREAT CITIES OF THE ANCIENT 

WORLD. 
GREAT CITIES OF THE MODERN 

WORLD. 
PAUL AND VIRGINIA. 
ILLUSTRATED POEMS AND SONGS 

FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. 

LABOULAYE'S ILLUSTRATED FAIRY 
TALES. 

SPORTS AND PASTIMES OF AMERI- 
CAN BOYS. 

THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS. 

LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF ROBIN- 
SON CRUSOE. 

THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON. 

LAMB'S TALES FROM SHAKESPEARE. 

WOOD'S ILLUSTRATED NATURAL 
HISTORY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. 



All bound in handsome lithographed double 
covers ; also in cloth. 

George Routlcdge & Sons, 

9 LAFAYETTE PLACE, NEW YORK. 



.tf> 



fc 



* 



So 



Copyright 1887, 
By Joseph L. Blamire. 



THE LIBRARY] 

or c ompr ess) 

WASHIMQTOwI 



PREFACE 



The value of an illustrative story in impressing the.facl upon the mind 
is well-known. Children, and those of Larger growth owe their clear concep- 
tion oi many important matters to the story with wliicjj these were firsl 
presented. 

This suggests that the many things which young people" Deed to know 
about the countries of the world, could be gained more easily from illustra- 
tive stories than from condensed statements of bare facts. Ami numerous 
Btories of this kind an- to be fo\md stored away in volumes uninteresting to 
most young freaders and inaccessible to all bu1 a few. 

Hence these Stories of Persons and Places which attempts to treat 
in this illustrative way the countries of Europe, their noted physical 
features, antiquities. Legends, historical events and personages, industries 
and works of arl . 

For some important subjects suitable stories conld not be found and 
vivid descriptions have been substituted. In a few countries, Buch as 
Greece, whose prominent points are her myths, her immortal statesmen 
and her remains of ancient art, much has been omitted because ii has 
already been told so often and so well in juvenile works. 

B L. B. 



CONTENTS 



Chapter I. page 

Russia 1 

Chapteb II. 
Sweden - - • • .43 

Chapter 111. 
Norway • • • • • • • • • • • r, i 

Chapter IV. 
Denmark . . ' 36 

Chapter V. 

England . • L01 

Chapter VI. 
Ireland I36 

( Ihapter V 1 1 
Scotland 160 

Chapter Vlll. 
Netherlands 183 



Contents, 

Chapter IX. PAGE 

Belgium 207 

Chapter X. 
Germany . 224 

Chapter XL 
Austria-Hungary 252 

Chapter XII. 
Switzerland 276 

Chapter XIII. 
France 295 

Chapter XIV. 
Spain . . 321 

Chapter XV. 
Portugal 343 

Chapter XVI. 
Ltalu m 

Chapter XVII. 
Turkey . 38? 



Chapter XVIII. 
Greece 404 

Chapter XIX. 

Balkan States 420 



STORIES OF PERSONS AM) PLACES IN EUROPE. 



CHAPTER I. 

RUSSIA. 

Russia, the largest country of the world, lias no magnificent mountain 
scenery like Switzerland ; no romantic hills and glens, like Scotland, and no 
classic songs of heroes, like Greece; bu1 she lias lier own attractions lier 
v&si rivers and lakes, forests and plains all, like herself, wonderful for their 

atness, if for nothing else. She has, also, her stores of rich products; 
her tales of brave warriors : of determined, though sometimes cruel, rulers, 
;iinl an abundance of fables and legends. 

[f one could be at the top of a lofty observatory near the centre of Russia 
and look over the whole extent, from Germany to the Ural Mountains and 
from the Wliii-- Sea t<> the Black, he would see ^|>i«-:i<l ou1 before him mon 
than one-half of nil Europi . Stretching away to the north, in :i wide band 
along Mi.- Arctic ,Ocean, In- would Bee the frozen tundras; t<> tin- .smith , al< niL r 

the Black and Caspian, \\ i<!<- plains, s<> sovered with waving grain, others 

barren and Bandy; and, through the central part, vasi forests, broken here 
and there in the northwesl by Immense lakes. 

'I'm. Treeless Ti m»i:\. Prom the middle of September till tly end of 
June the greal aorthem plain of Russia !!«•> buried under ;i thick mantle of 
Not a tree nor a bush lifts Itself from out tin- whit.- mass; forthe 
bushes .-if- completely buried, and trees there are none. For t\\<» months 
nut ;i glimmer of sunshine lights up the Bnowj waste; though the moon, the 
rtars, and the northern lights dispel ;i Little of the darkness. No sound nor 

i of animal life disturbs the solitude, null--- n \,* an occasional fos "i 
reindeer, or ;i straj buow owl. Bui when th<- -mi lian full3 returned and 



[0 Persons and Places in Europe, 

begins to make Long slays each day, then a great change and commotion 
takes place. The white mantle soon grows thin and shabby; the frozen 
rivers and lakes snap and crack with the swelling Hoods, heaving and crash- 
ing the ice on their bosoms till huge masses are piled up in every direction. 

Then the long-buried secrets of the vegetable world begin to be revealed. 
Out come reindeer moss and lichens, and dwarf shrubs with scented leaves; 
last year's cranberries, preserved in ice and snow, appear; dwarf birch run 
along the ground, like ivy, and endless rushes and grasses spring up. 

As the season advances, the white mantle entirely disappears and a mot- 
tled green one takes its place, bedecked with tiowers and patched with open 
spaces o( water, and myriads o( birds come Hocking over the plain. 

The tundra is a grand nesting place i'or the feathered folks, especially 
those who are fond of water. The grassy mounds are thickly inhabited by 
happy families of snipe, plover, buntings, redwings, wagtails, and widgeons, 
and the lakes and marshes are perfect paradises to the thousands of ducks, 
geese, and swans that every year take up their line of march across this 
watery region. 

Fokkst Scenes. — South of the tundra the zone of wood commences; first 
witha stunted, sickly growth, crippled by the cold northern winds ; then with 
more sturdy and fairer races, until there arises the full-grown pines, firs, 
larches, alders, and willows of the great forest region. This part of the 
country, though densely wooded and often uninhabited for miles, is Ear less 
dreary than the tundras, for there istheeonstant charm of beauty and variety. 
The monotony o( the somber pines is broken by the delicate hues of the 
willows and alders, by plantations of young firs, by clumps of tall 
spruces and haggard old larches. In many places a mantle of delicate 
moss covers, not only the decayed and fallen trees, but the tall forms 
of the living ones. All the way from the bottom to the top it spreads, runs 
out over the stems and branches, and even hangs in long clusters of pale 
green from the etuis, or in graceful festoons from one tree to another. Un- 
derneath the fallen and moss-covered trunks is a tangle of brushwood — 
bramble and juniper bushes, cranberry, erowberry and whortleberry, wood 
sorrel, arbutus and rhododendrons, mingling with the soft carpet of mosses 
and lichens. Frequently there are open spaces where the still waters of 
little tarns or lakes shine out, or where their dry beds lie waiting for the 
next season of high water. 

A sudden fall of snow works a magical change in all these forms. But 
furnishing fine pictures for admiring eyes is by no means the only purpose 



Russia. 



II 



of these iraal forests, [ndeed, the Russian peasanl would never dream that 
snch was any pari of their mission. Il«- Looks to them for the necessaries 
of life. He builds his cottage, his boat, and lii> fences from the timber of 
the fir tree; tie burns il forlighl :in<l for firewood, spreads the ashes upon 
the soil for manure, and taps its roots for turpentine. The birch furnishes 
him with household utensils, with baskel shoes, and with switches for his 
\ a por bath. 




The mountain ash ornaments his yard and supplies his table with I" 
marmalade. Prom the forest comes also another table delicacy, \\ il<l honej . 
Quantities of il are gathered every year from the hollow trunks where the 
bees have made their home, and a large a-mounl [s exported to other 
countrie 

The foresl Is the home of a number of w ild animals, w hich are hunted for 



12 Persons and Places in Europe. 

their furs and for sport. A bear-hunt is a frequent and always a highly 
exciting occurrence . Several methods of attacking him are practiced ; one 
is to run him down with " skidors," a kind of huge roller-skate, on which 
the hunters can keep up with the rapid gait of the bear and, sooner or later, 
tire him out. They sometimes follow him in this way for a couple of weeks, 
sleeping each night in the snow. 

Life oisr the Steppes. — The southern zone of Russia consists of a 
series of plains, the eastern ones salty, sandy, and barren ; the western, so 
rich that they have been called the granaries of Europe. With no fertiliz- 
ing whatever, the rich, black soil yields the most surprising crops of grain 
and vegetables, and also of thrifty and troublesome weeds, called " burian." 
One kind, called the " steppe needle," sends its sharp seeds right through the 
skin of the cattle and into their hearts and bowels, causing the most painful 
death. Another kind, called the " drunken weed," makes horses mad and 
lame, but does no harm to cattle. There is also the " cholera burr," which 
appeared first when the cholera was raging, and is said to be a cure for that 
disease; and there is a very curious plant called the " perekatspole." In 
autumn, when the winds begin to blow sharply, a great mass of this growth 
loosens its hold upon the earth, rolls up and bounds off before the wind, 
faster than a horse can gallop. At times it moves on in long, regular lines ; 
then it breaks up and leaps onward with the wildest antics, as if alive. 
Sometimes the forepart of the flying mass suddenly stops ; the rest, finding 
its way blocked, flings itself up in a high heap. Presently the hill topples 
over, and away the whole pile goes again before the breeze, faster than ever. 

Underneath the tall grasses and burian a busy little world will be found- 
all out of sight if one but glances over the plain. Long trains of ants may 
be seen crossing in all directions ; huge spiders stretching their treacherous 
bridges from stalk to stalk ; and butterflies, bees, locusts, and grasshoppers, 
jumping, flying, buzzing, and humming about by myriads ; bustards start up 
from their nests in the burian ; hawks and kites dart about, looking for prey ; 
moles and marmots sun themselves at their doorways ; hares come leaping 
through the grass ; and the wolf slinks into her hiding place beneath a 
clump of weeds, where she tries to protect her young from their numerous 
enemies. 

Suddenly from out of the distance comes a "tuban" of half -wild steppe 
horses, dashing along on their way to a watering-place. Yery beautiful 
they look, with their long, waving manes reaching nearly to their knees and 
heavy tails sweeping the ground, as they fly along after their dashing leader. 



14 Persons and Places in Europe. 

Following the drove on his own swift steed is, perhaps, a Tartar, " arkan" 
in hand, bent upon capturing one of the fine creatures before him. This 
arkan is a leathern sling, which the Tartars throw with as much dexterity 
as the Mexican does his lasso, and never fails to bring out his horse from 
the very centre of the drove if he chooses . When the horses hear the arkan 
whizzing over their heads, they rush out in every direction to get away from 
the victim, rearing and kicking each other to make a clearing ; the air is 
filled with neighing and snorts of pain, until they break out of each other's 
way and speed away over the plain. But a cry from the leader brings the 
scattered ranks together again, and on they go, forgetful of danger in their 
wild enjoyment of freedom. 

A Steppe oisr Fire. — Every year the Russian peasant sets fire to his 
portion of the steppe, in order to overcome the troublesome burian and make 
room for his crops . He never seems to consider how great a matter a little 
fire kindleth, only taking care to start it when the wind will blow it away 
from his own house and barn. It is a curious sight to see the fiame as, with 
a slight hiss, it darts forward through the dry grass, leaving a wake of 
blackened earth and white ashes. The blaze does not show itself in the 
daylight, and often one would fancy it had died out, when suddenly a tall 
weed bursts forth into flame, in a second it fires its neighbors, and then the 
stems all around begin to writhe as if in torture. A pillar of fire rises in the 
air and then sinks again to the ground, spreading along the low grass. For 
a while it seems motionless, then dashes suddenly away for miles, with the 
speed of an arrow, leaving along, unburned patch, which takes fire afterward, 
when all danger seems to be over. With every puff of wind the fiame is 
driven further into the steppe, spreading out like a stream that has burst its 
banks; forming islands here and there, which in time are flooded also; 
myriads of black fibres begin to dance in the air and cover the spectator from 
head to foot; an unpleasant smell of burning peat assails his nostrils; 
gradually a dense cloud of smoke begins to collect over the ground, moving 
backward and forward and up and down in the strangest way. Unlike the 
terrible prairie fires of America, there are no flying herds of buffalo or wild 
antelope rushing frantically from a fearful death ; it is seldom that the cattle 
of the steppes are surprised by a fire. There is often a flock of excited birds ; 
but many of them have followed the smoke, to feast on the roasted dainties 
left in the wake of the fire. 

More desolate than ever is the appearance of the steppe after the fire, 
with its crust of ashes and blackened remains of plants. The parched earth 



gapes in thousands of cracks, and into these the pain washes the charred 
remains. Bu1 when the spring sun begins to warm the earth, the dreary, 
gray plain is changed as if by magic into bright, golden green. Millions of 
sharp leaves peer out, and in a U-w days construct a thick, ptch carpet, to 
gladden the eye and to fatten the hungry cattle. 

The r>i:\ kiuc tion of the Waters. The steppe country of Russia 
is crossed by four greal rivers, which have bad much to do with her growth 
and welfare, especially before the Czars began to build railroads. Forcen- 
turies they furnished the only routes from the interior to the roast. With 
boats in summer and sledges in winter, the -rand princes could make tours 
through their farthesl provinces, transport their armies quickly from one 
place to another in time of war. Or engage in commerce in times of peace. 
Without these highways it would have been impossible to keep up such 
communication with the remote corners and thus to bold the empire to- 
ge1 her. 

In the north is the St. Lawrence of Russia, ih itlet of her greal lakes, 

where every winters magnificent ceremony, called "The Benediction of the 
Waters," is held. 

The emperor, with all his priests, bishops, and officers of state, gather at 
the winter palace and, no matter how cold or stormy, walk bareheaded in 
Bolemn procession to the river. Eere a wooden temple has been riveted on 
the ice, richly gilded and painted, and hung round with sacred pictures, 
especially of St. John the Baptist. This temple, which is called the .Ionian, 
is surrounded by a hedge of fir boughs, and in the midst of it a hole is cut 
through the ice to the water. A platform of boards, covered with red cloth 
and fenced in by fir boughs, is Laid from the shore for the procession to 
pass over. Then, between lines of troops and standards, the clerks, deacons, 
priests and bishops, in their richest roi.es, pass along, carrying lighted 
tapers, censers, the gospels, sacred pictures, and banners, followed by the 
emperor, the grand duke and all the court. 

The sen ice is then Bung, after which the high-priesl descends a staircase 
into the water, fills a vessel and carries it to the emperor, w ho immediately 
plunges into it his hands and face. Then the priest sprinkles bis majesty 
with a brush dipped in the consecrated water, praying all the while for 
blessings on Russia and its monarch. All the (.Hirers, the standards ami 
colors, are thus sprinkled, after which the procession marches back t<> the 
palace. A priest has already been dispatched with some vessels of water 
for the empress and her ladies; the guns of the fortress have been discharge 



16 Persons and Places in Europe. 

ing salutes, and the people looking on in silent awe. Now, as the last of the 
royal party leaves the place, the people rush in with their pitchers and pails 
to obtain their share of the holy water. 

A Legend of the Volga. — In Russia's early days the Dneiper was 
its principal highway for war and commerce, but now the Volga is the river 
of the empire, both in size and in importance. Its tributaries are as large 
as ordinary rivers, and its 2,300 miles of natural waterway is still further 
increased by canals connecting it with the White Sea and the Baltic. It is 
the great artery of communication for the whole country, and its waters 
supply one of the most profitable fisheries in Europe. Vast quantities of 
sturgeon and salmon are caught every year in the lower Volga and shipped 
to other countries . 

The Russians, who have a story for almost everything, tell this legend 
about the origin of the Volga. They say that many ages ago, before the 
rivers were formed, there were two sisters, Volga and Vazuza, who disputed 
long together as to which was the wiser, the stronger, and the more worthy 
of respect. After a while they decided to settle the dispute in the following 
way. 

They would lie down together to sleep, and whichever was the first 
to rise and reach the Caspian should ever afterward be held the wiser of the 
two and most worthy of respect. So they lay down, and in the night 
Vazuza rose silently and fled away by the nearest and straightest line 
toward the Caspian. When Volga awoke she set off, neither slowly nor 
hurriedly, but with just befitting speed. At Yubtsof she came up with 
Vazuza and looked at her so angrily that Vazuza was frightened and 
besought Volga to take her in her arms and bear her to the Caspian. So to 
this day Vazuza is the first to awaken in the spring, but Volga overtakes 
her and carries her to the Caspian. 

A Great Salt Lake. — As the Volga nears the end of its journey it 
passes through a wide sandy plain, shelving gradually to the borders of the 
Caspian and continues there, under the water, its gentle slope, down to nearly 
one- third of the length of the sea. Where the Caucasian Mountains strike 
the sea at Cape Apsheron, there the plain breaks, and the bottom of the sea 
becomes at once deeper and uneven. The dry part of the plain — the steppe 
country — contains quantities of salt and sea shells mixed with the sand, 
showing that it has once been a part of the bed of the sea. But why should 
the water have dried away, when all the while the Volga, the Ura, and several 
smaller rivers, are pouring into it such immense volumes of water that it 



18 Persons and Places in Europe. 

would seem as if it must overflow instead of drying up ? Because the high 
winds and the heat of the sun carry away by evaporation more than the 
rivers can bring in. The process can be seen going on all around the 
northern borders of the Caspian, where there is a thick fringe of narrow 
inlets, each extending for some distance inland and spreading out into a 
shallow }:>an — a natural evaporator. In some of these there is considerable 
water and only a thin layer of salt around the banks ; in others there is less 
water and a thick pavement of salt all over the bottom and about the sides ; 
in others the waters has disappeared entirely and the salt bed is covered 
with sand. This is already a part of the steppe. 

East of the Caspian is an immense salt pan, into which, by a narrow 
channel, the water is constantly running from the sea, and spreading out to 
dry. It is thought that fully three hundred and fifty thousand tons of salt 
is carried out of the Caspian every year into this marsh. No living thing 
is found in its briny waters . 

This same process of evaporation going on in the Caspian also takes 
place in the Black, but that sea receives a larger supply of water in propor- 
tion to the area of its surface, and so is kept full and running over. 

It is thought that once the strait of the Bosporus did not exist ; that, 
instead, the Black Sea overflowed into the Caspian ; that, in fact, they were 
both one, and extended without doubt to the Sea of Aral. If some force 
should block up the channel of the Bosporus, and the water in the Black 
Sea should rise twenty-three feet higher than it now is, it would run over 
into the Caspian, through a valley which can be easily traced and which 
seems to have been once a water-course. Following this supposition further, 
the Caspian would begin to overflow and spread out over all the low, steppe 
country, covering a portion as large as France, and when it had risen one 
hundred and flfty-eight feet it would All up the lakes and valleys on the east 
and reach to the Sea of Aral. And then — some curious peoj)le have carried 
the matter still further, and they say that a rise of sixty-two feet more would 
carry the Aral as far as the Zobol, a tributory of the Obi, and then there 
would be a continuous water-passage from the headwaters of the Danube in 
Europe to the Arctic Ocean, ma the Black and Caspian seas. And, strange 
to say, an ancient maker of geographies has marked such a connection 
between the Arctic and the Aral. If there had only been some very learned 
map-makers in the times of Adam or Noah, what wonderful changes in the 
face of the earth we might now trace with certainty ! 



Russia. 



19 



Tiik Shores of the Baltic, At the opposite end of the empire an- 
other set of changes is going <>n, as strange as those abont the Caspian. 
The Baltic is Losing ground every year. < >nce fche City of Lubec stood upon 
the shore; new, it is twelve miles inland. Once the chain of Lakes which 
empty into the Baltic were joined to the White Sea, as is shown by the salt 
water animals found there, though the Lakes are now fresh. 

But the strangesi thing aboul the Baltic is the way the Lee is sometimes 
formed. [nstead of ap- 
pearing lirst on the surface, 
as all ordinary Lee does, it 
often forms on t hi- bottom 
and rises to I he top in thin 
plates about five Inches in 
diameter. These Lee plates 
are often Been coming np 
,.|_''\\ Lse \\ it h such force 
as to lift themselves three 
or four inches out of the 
water. When they come 
up in greal cumbers they 
are piled togel her one upon 
another and broken, luit if 
only a few rise they remain 
entire and t be diameter of 
each increases to two feet 
or more. When the fish- 
erman sees fche Loeplates 
rising rapidly, be makes 
for the shore as fasl as 
possible, for in a short rubik 

time they will be frozen to- 
gether in a Bolid mass through which a boal cannot pass. 

Sometimes, in the gulfs of Finland and Bothnia, Btones are seen floating 
on t..p of the water amidsl the Lee; thej bave been caughl in the plates and 
brought to the Burface, w bere they are carried along until the ice melts or is 
driven ashore. Blocks of granite weighing two or three hundred ton bave 
been thus carried along by the Lee and deposited on the laud. 

All the countries around the Baltic are rich in products of aU kinds, and 




20 Persons and Places in Europe. 

these, added to the quantities of fish, yielded by the waters, make this sea a 
place of great importance in the world of commerce. 'Ships of all nations 
are continually crowding its waters. 

It was on the shores of the Baltic that the history of Russia began, in a 
strip of territory inhabited by a band of Northmen. To the south, in the 
vicinity of Novgorod, there dwelt a race of Slavs, who had cleared for them- 
selves a large tract of country and built cities. But they were not good 
statesmen ; the chieftains quarreled so much that they kept the country 
from prospering. Finally they sent a message to the Northmen, saying, 
" Our land is great and fruitful, but it lacks order ; come and take posses- 
sion and govern us." 

From that time the history of Russia commences. The Northmen sent 
three of their princes to rule over the Slavs, and they proved to be wise and 
powerful rulers. One of them, named Rurik, after the death of the other 
two, united all of the Slavs in one nation, which from that time was called 
Russia. Rurik' s successor, Oleg, was another gifted ruler. He enlarged 
his dominions by numerous conquests, and built cities. He was looked 
upon almost as a god by the people for his wisdom, and the manner of his 
death has been many times related by their historians. 

They say that he had a horse of which he was very fond, and rode so 
much that the soothsayers prophesied it would be the cause of his death. 
Hearing this, Oleg had the horse put away, and paid no more attention to it 
for several years. Upon asking one day what had become of it, he was told 
that it had been dead a long time. Remembering, then, what the soothsayers 
had told him. he asked to see the bones, and was shown where they lay. 
" So this," he said, with a kick upon the skull, " is the creature that was to 
cause my death." As he said this a serpent rushed out of the skull and 
stung his foot so that he died from the effects of the bite. 

Tribes and Peoples. — Russia is a land of many races. More than one 
hundred different nations and tribes are found within the empire, and forty 
different languages are spoken. Here has been the battle-ground on which 
family after family, coming from "the cradle of the world," have fought for 
supremacy. First came the little Lapps and Finns; but they were soon 
driven to the north by the more powerful Celts. Then came another race, 
more powerful still — the savage Scythians — who scalped their prisoners, 
used skulls for drinking-cups, worshipped a sword wet with human blood, 
and celebrated the death of their kings by strangling all their relations. 

So fierce and untamable were they, that few people from the civilized 



Russia. 



21 



world ventured among them, No one has recorded the terrible scenes of 
strife and bloodshed that took place between fchem in the earlier ages; bnl 
at last something like order began to appear. Slavs, Goths, Buns, and 
Tartars, had each carved 
out a resting place with 
their swords. About 
this time an Arabian 
writer ventured into the 
country and round the 
Slavs the most nume- 
rous and powerful ; 
they had herds of sheep 
and cattle, and the} 
sowed their fields with 
grain; but they were 
nearly as barbarous as 
their Scythian ances- 
tors. They fougfrl with 
bows and poisoned ar- 
rows, and long nooses 
with which they Lassoed 
their enemies. When 
a chieftian died, they 

killed a couple of slaves 

to burn on his funeral 
pyre, thai tie mighl 
have an attendant when 
he reached the other 
world . 

The Arabian writer 
was presenl at one of 
these horrible funerals. 
For several days, he 
says, t he friends of t he 
deceased bewailed him * 9boupof bttmiaws. 

and Intoxicated themselves over his corpse. Then the men-servants were 
asked which of them would l>e buried with his master. ( me consented, and 
was immediately strangled. The same question was asked of the women 




22 Persons and Places in Europe. 

servants, and one of them offered herself. She was then washed, adorned, 
and treated like a princess; did nothing bnt drink and sing until the 
appointed day. Then the dead man was laid in a boat, with part of his 
arms and his garments. His favorite horse [was slain, with other domes- 
tic animals, and put in the boat, with the servant who had been strangled. 
The young maid-servant then took off her jewels, and, with a glass of 
kvass in her hand, sang her death-song, which she wonld gladly have pro- 
longed, bnt the old woman who had been appointed to kill her — " the death 
angel" she was called — ordered her to drink quickly and enter the boat 
where her dead master lay. 

At this she turned pale and tried to draw back, bnt the old woman seized 
her by the hair and dragged her in. Then the men began to beat their 
shields, so that the noise wonld drown her cries, which if the other slave 
girls heard might make them nnwilling to offer themselves for their masters 
when the time should come . 

The whole horrid scene ended with the burning of the boat in one grand 
funeral pile. 

Vladimir's Baptism. — The second great event in the history of Russia 
was brought about by Vladimir, a great-grandson of Rurik. Before his 
day, the people had all been idol-worshippers ; he led them to change pagan- 
ism for Christianity. His grandmother, Olga, had been baptized, and a few 
Christian missionaries had preached to the people, bnt with little effect. . 

During the first years of his reign Vladimir was a pagan. He erected 
costly idols and persecuted the Christians. Bnt after a while he began to 
be troubled about which was the true religion. Around him were Jews, 
Christians, Mohammedans, and pagans — which belief was the right one? 
He began to inquire into the matter. 

The Bulgarians recommended to him the conquering religion of Mahomet, 
and he was pleased with their description of its lovely paradise and houris , 
But when they said that no wine was allowed, he shook his head : " Wine 
is the delight of the Russians," he said ; "we cannot do without it." 

The Germans offered him Catholicism, but he disliked the idea of wor- 
shipping a pope — a mere man, he said. 

The Jews sought to win him to the Hebrew religion; but he thought 
they must have done something to greatly displease heaven, since they were 
driven out of their country to wander in strange lands, and he had no desire 
to share their punishment. 

To decide the matter he sent ambassadors out to visit the churches of the 



Russia. 23 

different faiths, and when they returned and gave the most glowing descrip- 
tion of the church of St. Sophia at Constantinople, with its magnificent fur- 
nishings and solemn service, he made up his mind to join that church. 
"Besides," the ambassadors said, "if the Greek religion had not been the 
best, surely your ancestor, Queen Olga, the wisest of mortals, would never 
have embraced it." 

That settled the matter, and, in the year 980, Vladimir was baptized in 
the river Cherson, near Sevastopol, receiving the name of Basil. A 
church dedicated to St. Basil now stands upon the heights overlooking the 
place. 

When he returned home he had the idols pulled down, amid the tears 
and terror of the people. The gold-headed and silver-bearded Perum was 
flogged and thrown into the river. Then he commanded all the people, 
young and old, men, women, and children, to plunge into the water, while 
the Greek priest chanted the baptismal service. After this he built fine 
churches, and adorned them with the richest workmanship of the Grecian 
art. 

It is said that his new religion made a great change in the prince, who, 
all his life before, had been a most wicked old sinner. He now treated his 
Greek wife with great kindness, and hardly punished criminals for fear of 
doing wrong. 

Many years went by, after Vladimir ordered the people to be baptized, 
before they gave up the worship of idols in secret, and even yet the influence 
of their old belief clings to them. Pictures representing the Virgin Mary 
and the saints, called "icons," they have the greatest reverence for. There is 
one in every house, and no one thinks of entering the door without bowing 
to the icon. A visitor always bows to the icon before saluting any member 
of the family. If he does not see it, he asks, " Where is the god ? " but it is 
usually kept in the corner opposite the door, where it will be easily seen. 
On feast days a light is kept burning before it. 

Large icons are put up on the outside of the churches, to which everyone 
bows as he passes by. Travelers are much amused at the frequent stops and 
solemn bows whenever one of these is seen. Sometimes in a railroad 
station a Russian, hurrying to get his ticket, sees an icon in the office, and 
he stops at once to doff his hat and make his bow, even if he lose his train. 

Some of the icons are thought to have the power of healing and working 
other wonders. To these long pilgrimages are made on foot from one end of 
the empire to the other. 



24 Persons and Places in Europe. 

The Khan of the Golden Hoede. — Unfortunately for Russia, her early 
rulers began the unwise practice of dividing the country between their 
children. Each prince received his principality, which, upon his death, 
was divided among his children. The grand prince was the one who ruled 
over Kief, and the title descended only to the eldest of the royal family ; 
that is, when the Grand Prince of Kief died, his eldest son would probably 
not be the heir, but a brother or, perhaps, an uncle of the deceased, who 
would then be the oldest male member of the family. This practice kept 
the country in a constant turmoil, for it usually took much fighting to find 
out which of the numerous pretenders was really the oldest. 

"While distracted with these wars of the princes, another great misfortune 
overtook Russia. A great army of Tartars entered it, the subjects of 
Genghis Khan, who had made himself ruler of a large part of Asia. " As there 
is only one sun in heaven," said this ambitious man, " so there ought to be' 
but one emperor on earth." So he sent his warriors into Europe to make 
that a part of his empire. 

So swiftly and suddenly this host of Mongols began j>ouring into Russia 
that the princes had no time to prepare for resistance. City after city fell 
quickly into their hands ; the people were robbed, and put to death by fire 
and sword ; bags full of human ears were sent to China as a token of the con- 
quest. On the conquerors came, to the very borders of Germany, and all 
Europe held its breath in terror. But there Bati, the Tartar general, heard 
that the Grand Khan was dead, and he hastened back to China to receive 
for his share of the empire the newly-conquered region of Russia. At Sarai, 
on the lower Volga, he built his palace, and called his dominion the 
"Golden Horde." 

He left the Russian princes in charge of their provinces, but obliged 
them to pay him tribute or become his slaves. He also obliged them to 
come to his capital to show their submission and to have their disputes 
settled. 

This journey to the "Golden Tent" was a most perilous one; before 
setting out, the princes usually made their wills and arranged everything as 
if they were never coming back, and the chances were that they never did. 
Some died of thirst in the steppes on the way ; others were unable to fur- 
nish the rich presents which the favorites of the khan demanded before 
admitting them to his court. Many were accused before the khan of grave 
offenses by their rivals, and put to death before they could say a word in 
self-defense. 



wwm y i ; 

IP" 






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S«lill»'~ ■ 



lilli ll 

»W : !;-;i!!i:! , !.;, i!j -/''; ' 
llllh,,' 



'ill ;ik i 




<26 Persons and Places in Europe. 

Upon approaching the khan, they were obliged to prostrate themselves 
many times and to declare that they were the humble slaves of the great 
Khan of the Golden Horde. 

When they were at home and a letter was brought from the khan, they 
must meet the bearer on foot, spread rich carpets under his feet, present 
him with a cup of golden coin, and receive the message on their knees. 

But the time came when the splendors of the Golden Horde began to 
grow dim. The powerful khan died, and his empire was divided among a 
number of weaker khans. The Russian princes, on the other hand, had 
been gradually uniting themselves under one grand prince, and by and by, 
when the Khan of Kazan sent his ambassadors to Moscow with his image, to 
demand tribute, the grand prince trampled the image under his feet and 
killed all of the messengers but one, whom he sent back to tell his master 
what had been done. 

I van the Terrible. — The new line of grand princes, who had made 
Moscow the capital of the empire, began very early to show a proud and 
autocratic spirit. "The grand prince decides all questions alone, shut up 
in his chamber," complained one of the nobles, for which he had his head 
cut off. "Be silent, rustic!" was the haughty rebuke given by the Grand 
Prince Ivan to a great lord who dared to contradict him. This same prince 
began when, only thirteen years old, a career of cruelty which won for him 
the title of Ivan the Terrible. He ordered his chief courtier, who had dis- 
pleased him, to be torn to death by hounds. The title of grand prince he 
laid aside and took that of Czar. Czar, in Russian, was the title given to 
Nebuchadnezzar, Pharaoh, and Ahasuerus . Ivan had read of these monarchs 
and determined to be a Czar. His subjects he regarded as his private 
property, whom he could treat as he choose. Men approached him in fear 
and prostrated themselves before his terrible iron staff. 

One of his most terrible deeds was the destruction he visited upon the 
city of Novgorod, because the people, disliking his cruel ways, were not 
afraid to say so. He was so enraged at their complaints that he swore he 
would level the city and sow the ground with salt, and in this frame of mind 
he marched to its gates. But there Father Nicholas met him — a good old 
priest, with a long, white beard, and such a saintly face that even the savage 
soldiers were awed by his presence. With fearless step the old man marched 
straight up to the terrible Ivan : 

"Bloodsucker and unbeliever !" he cried; " thou devourer of Christian 
iiesh, listen to my words. If thou, or any of these thy servants, touch a 



Russia. 



27 



hair of a child's head in yon city, I swear by the angel whom God has given 
nnto me to serve me, thou shalt surely die, die on the instant, by a flash 
from heaven!" 

As he spoke, the sky grew dark and a storm arose, as if in obedience to 
his threat. 

"Spare me, fearful saint," cried Ivan. "The city is forgiven; and let 
me in remembrance of this day have thy constant prayers." 

The priest then withdrew 
his curse, and Ivan entered 
the city, penitently to kneel 
before the shrine of St. 
Sophia. 

But as time passed on, 
the Czar again became en- 
raged against the city, and 
this time nothing could save 
it from his wrath. He en- 
tered it in fury and put 
more than sixty thousand 
men to death, some with the 
most terrible torture. INot 
even women and children 
were spared. The streets 
literally ran with blood, and 
were choked up with the 
bodies of the slain. 

In his last days Ivan was 
severely punished for his 
many cruel deeds. He had 
a son of whom he was very 
fond, and to whom he ex- 
pected to leave the large 

empire he had taken such pains to build up. One day, in a rage, he struck 
this son a savage blow with his great iron staff, and killed him on the spot. 
Great was the father's grief and remorse; he could find no comfort in any- 
thing, and was about to leave his throne and enter a convent when death 
called him away. 




IVAN THE TERRIBLE. 



28 Persons and Places in Europe. 

Peter's Legacy. — Nearly a hundred years went by after the death of 
Ivan the Terrible before as able a ruler wore his crown. Then came Peter 
the Great, who raised the country from barbarism to civilization. For this 
he deserved the title of Great, but for the inhuman cruelties he practiced he 
deserved the title of Terrible as much as did Ivan. He seemed to have no 
regard whatever for human life. At Berlin, when shown a new gibbet, he 
ordered one of his servants to be hung upon it that he might see how it 
operated. When he built St. Petersburg, a hundred thousand workmen 
were destroyed the first year by the hard work, dampness and bad food and 
shelter. 

He was not only inconsiderate, but terribly passionate. One day at 
dinner he quarreled with his general-in-chief.' Becoming angry, he drew 
his sword and, striking the officer, cried, " Thus will I mar thy mal-govern- 
ment ! " He appealed to a couple of nobles present as to the truth of the 
charges made against the general, but they found excuses for the man. At 
this, Peter was thoroughly enraged, and startled all the guests by striking 
right and left with his sword. One received a cut finger, another a blow on 
the head, another a gash on the hand. The general was saved by the Czar's 
old tutor, but at the expense of a hard blow on the back. 

One evening he saw a noble dancing with his sword on, and taught him 
to lay it aside by a blow on the nose that started the blood spouting over his 
face. At another dinner he became enraged over the quarreling of two 
guests and threatened both with immediate death ; the host tried to allay 
his fury, and received for his pains a violent blow. Another subject gave 
offense by being too free of speech, and was whipped "until his smarts 
teach him to treat his sovereign with becoming reverence." 

But all these were trifles compared with the punishments he inflicted on 
the troops whom his sister encouraged to revolt. He prepared fourteen 
torture-chambers, where the knout, rack, and fire were applied to these un- 
fortunate men, until the whole two thousand, nearly, had been tortured ; 
after which all but five hundred were put to death. 

But these things are forgotten in the face of his great deeds, and it is 
perhaps better, after all, that they should be. It certainly is a relief to turn 
from such dark crimes and look upon the determined Czar in the shipyards 
of Holland, working as an ordinary apprentice at ship-building, or serving 
as a midshipman on an English vessel that he may master the principles of 
navigation and teach them to his subjects. 

At St. Petersburg, very carefully preserved, is the small craft which 



Russia. 



29 



Peter saw sailing down the Yansa, and which first pnt the idea of ship-build- 
ing into his head. It is called "The Little Grandsire." Its descendants 
are the numerous ironclad monsters that now constitute the Russian navy, 
and which may very properly be called Peter's legacy to the Russians . 

He saw that in order to make Russia like the other nations of Europe, 
which was his great ambition, she must have a seaboard, where she could 
carry her produce and enter into trade with other countries. Industry and 
commerce, to call out the energy 
of the people and the resources 
of the country, were what was 
needed to bind the Russians 
together and make of them a 
great nation. This could not be 
done without a market-place. 
This was why Peter was so 
anxious to get a footing on the 
sea coast and to create a navy 
that could hold it. 

C atheeine' s Conquests . — 
One of the ablest rulers Russia 
ever had was a woman — Cath- 
erine II., wife of Peter III., a 
grandson of Peter the Great. 
During her reign learning and 
the arts made considerable pro- 
gress, and a large amount of 
territory was added. Poland — 
a country that had given a 
great deal of trouble to Russia ; 
that had once carried war to the 

gates of Moscow; that had also saved Europe from being overrun with 
Mohammedans by the strong hand of John Sobieski — was literally taken to 
pieces during Catherine's reign. The largest part was added to Russia; 
other portions to Prussia and Austria. The Poles made a most gallant 
struggle in defense of their country ; the name of their leader, Kosciuszko, 
will always have a place among patriotic heroes ; but their heroism came too 
late. They had weakened their country by years of quarreling among 
themselves, and so fell an easy prey to their enemies. 




PETER THE GREAT. 



30 



Persons and Places in Europe. 



About the same time another struggle was going on between Catherine's 
armies and the Crimeans at Bakchi-serai, where stood the palace of the last 
of the Tartar khans. Near the capital stood also a beautiful summer 
palace — a most fairy-like structure, with lofty windows of painted glass, 
walls hung with purple velvet, floors covered with richest carpets and silk- 
embroidered divans. Surrounding it was a garden of rarest flowers and 

fruits of every clime, filled with; 
sparkling fountains, perfumed 
vases, birds of gayest plumage 
and swestest song. 

On the entrance of the gate 
of the palace was a fatal inscrip- 
tion. It read : 

" From fire protect my domes and halls ; 
When they shall crumble, Tartary falls." 

Towards this beautiful palace 
the Russian army was now ad- 
vancing, and the Tartar soldiers 
collected in defense. Elizah 
Mansour, the mysterious prophet 
of the Caucasus, the expected 
deliverer of Tartary from the 
Russians, was present on his coal- 
black steed, riding here and there, 
always at hand where most 
needed, and inspiring the whole 
Tartar army with confidence . 

Long and fierce was the 
struggle. Line after line of the 
Russian host was swept away by the Tartars. Boiling lead, huge stones, 
scalding water, every possible missile, was hurled from the walls of the 
capital by the women and children. At last, as night drew on, the 
Russians began to give way. A shout was almost' on the lips of the vic- 
tors, when suddenly a dreadful crash was heard. Both armies paused to 
look, and, lo ! the magnificent summer palace was a sheet of flame ! 

Then every Tartar's heart stood still as he remembered the terrible 
prophecy on its walls. The shout of victory died upon their lips, and they 




CATHERINE II. 



82 Persons and Places in Europe. 

threw themselves upon the ground, tearing their hair and clothes in th<; 
fierceness of their despair. Yain was every attempt of the prophet to rally 
them, and the Russians marched unopposed into the city. . 

The Burning of Moscow. — A few years after the fall of the Crimea 
and the destruction of the cherished palace of the khans, the Russians were 
forced to see a like calamity befall, not a single palace, but a city full of 
palaces — their own beloved Moscow . Their country was now being invaded 
by the great French conqueror, Napoleon. The Czar, Alexander I., and his 
generals had decided to retreat from the capital and set it on lire, rather 
than leave it to become a refuge to the enemy they feared to light. 

With tears in their eyes the j>eople bade farewell to their beautiful and 
sacred city, and hurried out with such goods as they could carry, leaving 
the kindlings prepared and those who were to light them stationed in their 
hiding places. 

On the same day Napoleon's advanced guard reached the top of the hill 
overlooking the city, and saw for the first time its splendid domes and 
towers glittering in the sun. The cry of " Moscow ! Moscow ! " burst from 
their lips, and was echoed and re-echoed down the long lines behind them. 
Breaking their ranks, the soldiers rushed headlong down the hill, Napoleon 
in their midst. The fatigues and hardships of the long, cold march were 
forgotten ; a haven of rest was before them. 

All was silent within the city as they entered its gates ; the streets, 
empty and deserted, echoed only the tramp of their footsteps . Night came 
on, and Napoleon waited in vain at the citadel for a delegation of citizens 
to come and arrange terms with him. The truth could no longer be 
doubted — the city was deserted. But what richness was left for the French. 
Provisions in the larders, wine in the cellars, clothes in the wardrobes, easy 
chairs, soft beds, luxuries of every kind, with none to molest. Surely there 
never were such fortunate soldiers . 

These luxuries, however, they had enjoyed but a few days, when one night 
a lire broke out among the splendid buildings in the northern part ; then 
others in different directions, and the soldiers, overcome with wine and 
luxuries, were too sleepy to put them out. 

In the morning there were fires in every direction. Balloons of flame 
shot up with frightful, hissing noises and loud explosions ; sheets of burn- 
ing canvas unrolled from the buildings and floated in the air, scattering 
fresh fires. The heat became intolerable. The wind rose to a hurricane. 
The whole heavens were filled with burnino- smoke. 



Russia. 33 



Napoleon clung to the Kremlin to the last, hoping that would escape ; but 
on the third day the cry arose, "The Kremlin is on fire." There was nothing 
now to be done but seek a place of safety outside of the gates, and there 
Napoleon watched the city he had come so far to gain turning to ashes in 
,his grasp. Well might he exclaim, " This is but the beginning of disaster." 
It meant an immediate return over the same path they had already left 




BURNING OF MOSCOW. 



strewed with their dead, with hunger, cold, and Cossack cavalry carrying 
away the greater part of the survivors before they could regain the far-away 
frontiers of Prussia. 

The despair of the French troops as they turned their faces homeward 
was scarcely greater than the grief of the Russians, as they heard the roar 
of the flames and watched the burning fragments falling around them. 



3 ^ Persons and Places in Europe. 

They had sacrificed "their palaces and temples; their monuments of art and 
miracles of luxury ; the remains of ages passed away and of those unfinished ; 
the tombs of their ancestors and the cradles of their descendants. Nothing 
remained of Moscow but the remembrance of her former glory and the reso- 
lution to avenge it." 

The Charge of the Light Brigade.— When Catherine went to visit' 
her newly-conquered provinces on the Black Sea, her ministers flatteringly' 
assured her that it was but a little farther to Constantinople. This they 
knew to be a pleasing suggestion, for she was already planning to drive the 
Turks out of Europe, revive the old Eastern Empire, and place a Russian 
prince on the throne at Constantinople. This scheme she was never able to 
carry out ; but it continued to be a pleasing subject to the Russian rulers 
until the time of her grandson, Nicholas I. As soon as he had put down 
the rebellions that greeted his coronation, he took up in earnest this project 
of his royal grandmother. 

Calling the English ambassador to him one day, he desired to speak wi"h 
him as a gentleman speaks with his friend. "If England and myself can 
come to an understanding about this affair," said he, "I shall care very little 
what the others may say." The others were France and Austria. But 
when the ambassador reported to England the proposition of the Czar, that 
they share between them "the sick man's" dominion, that country was 
alarmed at once at the audacity of the Czar's designs, well knowing he 
would take the lion's share. Instead of "coming to an agreement" with 
him, she at once came to an agreement with France to stand by the Turks. 
This "abuse of confidence" greatly offended Nicholas, without deterring 
him from his intentions. And so it came about that in the year 1854 there 
were four great armies drawn up near Balaklava, in the Crimea, to fight a 
battle— the Russians on one side; English, French and Turks on the other. 
The Russians had taken a position in the shape of an immense horse- 
shoe, the opening facing the armies of the allies. The English officer, Lord 
Lucan, saw that by a combined attack upon the ends of the horse-shoe— the 
French at one side and the English at the other— they could be "rolled up," 
in army phrase, upon the centre, with good chances of a victory. So he 
began sending out his orders. The English infantry were told to advance, 
and meanwhile a body of light cavalry was ordered to make a charge, by 
which time the infantry would be coming up to carry on the conflict. But 
the officer to whom the order was sent, not understanding the plan, misun- 
derstood the place of attack, and ordered the commander of the brigade to 



36 Persons and Places in Europe. 

charge up the Russian centre. As Tennyson says, "Well they knew that 
some one had blundered," and the officer commanding begged leave to call 
his superior's attention to the fact that there were " cannon to right of them, 
cannon to left of them, and cannon in front of them." 

" You are ordered to charge," said the blundering officer. " Yery well," 
answered the brave man; and away they went, "while all the world won- 
dered "—the Russians at what appeared to them the unlimited daring of the 
foe ; the English, at the heroic fidelity of their disciplined troops, rushing 
into the very " jaws of death " on a misinterpreted order. The brave leader 
was killed when his brigade had gone but a short distance, but they made 
the charge and came back—" all that was left of them, left of six hundred." 

Against such discipline and such daring the Russians made little progress 
in the battles that followed, and Mcholas had to give up his designs upon 
Constantinople. 

The Liberator.— In the midst of the war in the Crimea the Czar 
Nicholas laid down his crown and his life. Then began the reign of one of 
the kindest Czars that Russia had ever known. As soon as he could, he 
brought to a close the war his father had begun, and gave his attention to 
improving the condition of his people. The greater part of his subjects 
were slaves— miserable, abject, oppressed creatures, at once a disgrace, a 
source of danger, and a bar to all national prosperity. 

During all the early part of Russia's history the common people had 
been wanderers, living in tents and wagons and roving about wherever they 
pleased. When they found good pasture for their cattle they stayed, some- 
times long enough to raise a little grain, then went on. As long as this was 
the case, the Czars could collect no rent from them for the use of the land. 
Ivan the Terrible remedied this by making a law that all must stay on the 
lands they then occupied until Saint George's day; during the eight days 
before and after that day they might move, and then only. To see that his 
commands were obeyed and the rents paid, he set his nobles over portions of 
the territory. A hundred years afterward a man who had no right to the 
Russian throne seized it, and, to win the nobles over to his side, gave them 
complete control of the serfs and took away the eight-day privilege of 
moving. Thus the peasants were "fastened" to the soil and subjected to 
the cruel treatment of hard masters. They were overworked, whipped, and 
tortured, and there was no one to hear their complaint. " God is too high 
and the Czar too far away" became their despairing cry. 

Of course, there were kind masters, but in a land where, from the Czar 



Russia. 



37 



down, everybody could kick and flog the one beneath him, it is not strange 
that the serf, when he came to be considered his master's own property as 
much as the cow or the horse, often found life to be a burden too great to be 
borne. 

After a while, a few of the best people of Eussia began to be touched by 
the misery of the serfs and to wonder if something could not be done to 
better their condition. Catherine II. offered a prize to the writer of the best 
essay upon the eman- 
cipation of the serfs. 
Alexander I . , her 
grandson, planned a 
gradual emancipation, 
but the nobles opposed 
it so much that it 
came to nothing . 
Nicholas, when he be- 
came the successor of 
his brother, Alexan- 
der, wished to do some- 
thing, but had his 
hands too full of other 
matters. Alexander 
II. came to the throne 
with the determina- 
tion to grant them lib- 
erty. He drew up his 
plan of emancipation 
and submitted it to 
the nobles for their 
suggestions . They, 
of course, objected 
strongly; then he used his autocratic power and said it should be done 
whether they liked it or not. So, on the third of March, 1861, a day memor- 
able in Russian history, over twenty-five million of people were declared 
freemen. In the same year began the American civil war, which resulted 
in the liberation of the negro slaves in the United States. 

A Dark Deed. — The liberation of the serfs, though the greatest, was 
not the only improvement begun by Alexander II. He granted freedom of 




ALEXANDER II. 



38 Persons and Places in Europe. 

opinion to the newspapers ; he pardoned prisoners and exiles ; he took the 
drill-masters away from the universities, so that the students should no 
longer be disciplined like soldiers ; he improved the courses of study ; re- 
organized the army and the navy; multiplied railroads, increased manu- 
factures and commerce, and to some provinces gave the privilege of local 
self-government. 

But this breadth of liberty was too much for a long-oppressed people. 
The iron rule of Nicholas had taken away a number of the privileges granted 
by his predecessors, and caused much bad feeling, especially among the 
soldiers, who had come to know considerable about the more liberal govern- 
ments in other parts of Europe . The freedom granted by Alexander gave 
them a chance to express their discontent. The newspapers declared that 
the people ought to have a share in the government ; the students in the 
universities left off studying Greek and Latin and went to talking about 
their country. But, worse than all, a dangerous doctrine called nihilism 
began to spread. 

" NiMV — nothing — said the leaders of this new theory, " is better than 
what we have. Therefore, let us destroy everything; all law, all order, all 
religion ; kill the Czar and the heads of the churches ; if others are put in 
their places, kill them ; and by-and-by the people will begin to lose their 
respect for these powers that be, and then will come that happy state in 
which everybody can do as he pleases." " To concentrate all the forces of 
this world into an invincible and all-destroying power" was the declared 
object of nihilism. 

Alarmed at the way in which the people were using the privileges lie 
had given them, Alexander began to withdraw some. At this, nihilism 
broke out like a plague, and spread in every direction. High and low, rich 
and poor, were found among the infected ; but nearly all were young — the 
students in the universities ; the young ladies in the seminaries. 

The Czar received frequent warnings that his death had been decreed. 
Several attempts were made to take his life ; but he unflinchingly set to 
work to root out nihilism. The plotters were diligently sought for, and, 
when found, sentenced to death or to exile in Siberia. 

On the 2d of March, 1881, a grand military parade was held in St. Peters- 
burg, and Alexander II. went out, accomj)anied by his military staff and 
surrounded by his Cossack bodyguard, to view the troops. As he was 
returning he passed a party of laborers, who were shoveling snow near the 
Catherine Canal. Among these men was one armed with a deadly bomb. 



Russia. 



39 



As the emperor's carriage passed, the bomb was thrown, but it missed its 
mark and only wounded two Cossack soldiers. The chief of police, in a 
sleigh just behind, jumped out and seized the assassin. The emperor also 
stepped from his carriage, and at that moment a second bomb was thrown, 
which did the fatal work. Two hours afterward Alexander the Liberator 



was no more. 

The Seceet Police. - 



-Few people would have cared to change places 




RUSSIAN PENAL, COLONY. 

with Alexander III. when he put upon his head the crown of Russia. His 
life was threatened on every hand. He was warned that if he did^ not give 
the people a share in the government he must take the fate of his father. 
He determined to do neither ; but to fight— first for his life, then for the 
maintenance of his title of Autocrat of all the Russias. The war begun by 
his father against the nihilists and revolutionists he kept up with vigor. 



40 Persons and Places in Europe. 

As they had their secret agents in every house to teach the doctrines of 
nihilism, so the Czar sent his secret agents to spy them out — it might be 
in the guise of a cook, coachman, or chambermaid ; of a guest in the draw- 
ing-room, a general in the tent, or a midshipman on the quarter-deck. If a 
man spoke a word against the Czar to his nearest friend, that friend might 
be a spy who would report him to the secret police. Then a band of armed 
men would enter his room at midnight, bind him, put him in a sledge and 
whisk him off to Siberia. 

The most trifling speech was often taken to have a treasonable meaning, 
and thus great injustice was done, for no fair trial was given, so that if 
falsely accused one could be released. The "examination" before the 
magistrate seldom amounted to anything more than " Confess your guilt," 
which, whether the prisoner did or not, made little difference. He was 
hurried off into exile. 

The officers of the secret service were promoted according to the number 
of arrests they made, but never blamed for mistakes so long as they showed 
diligence in making arrests. Even if a person's innocence was afterwards 
proved, no atonement was made for the injury done him. 

Among the many stories told of these midnight arrests is one of a young 
writer who began a serial story in the Russian Monthly Magazine. It was 
witty and well written, and gained wide attention, but suddenly it stopped. 
The people inquired in vain for the reason ; no one knew anything about it, 
nor where he was. At last a letter came to the publishers from far-off 
Totma, and they asked permission of the officers to publish it, as an explana- 
tion to their readers of the discontinuance of the story. 

The police read it, and as it only said that the story would not be car- 
ried further at present, they saw no objection to its being published ; but 
they overlooked the headline, and when the people saw ' ' Totma ' ' at the 
beginning of the letter they knew what it meant. Some one had mistrusted 
the writer of throwing out a fling or so against the government, and he had 
been spirited away. 

A sadder case was that of a young girl who was seized in her father's 
house one night and taken away from her home forever. Among her letters 
had been found one from a young student who was known to cherish revo- 
lutionary ideas . She was taken before a magistrate, accused of conspiracy 
against the government, and bidden to confess . She declared that she had 
done nothing and had nothing to confess ; but all her words were of no avail. 
She was sent to prison, and what became of her no one ever knew. 



Russia. " 



Until recently no trial was permitted to anyone thus accused by the secret 
police. Now a trial is granted ; but if the courts acquit a person, the police 
may still take him off into exile if they see fit. 

A Little Would.— The Russian peasants are called "social people. 
They are seldom found living in solitary huts, but together in villages, called 
"mirs " Nearly all of these villages in the northern and central part ot 
Russia have the same appearance. There is a collection of low, brown huts, 
placed close together, but irregularly, over a large space, and in the midst 
rising high above them, a white church, with green roof, silvered dome, and 
frescoes of saints. A tall, graceful belfry stands near by, nsnaJly separate 
from the church. Surrounding the village are the lands-the grain fields 
meadows, and pastures, divided into regular, oblong patches and distributed 
' among the villagers in proportion to the number of workers there are m each 
family. The more land one has, the more taxes he has to pay ; so no one is 
anxious to have more than he can well take care of. 

The day on which the lands are portioned out is a very important one to 
the people. They all gather at the « Forum," and the village « Elder," who 
is elected by the people to look after all such important matters, begins with 

the arable or plow land. . 

"Come, now, Ivan," he says to an elderly peasant; "you are a sturdy 
f ellow, and you have a son there, a fine youth who can do the work of two ; 
you must take at least three shares . " 

The land in this case is poor, and no one wants to take very much. 

"No: I cannot," objects Ivan. "My son, praise to God, is strong and 
healthy but my old woman is quite without force ; I cannot take so much. 

"If the old woman is weak, your daughter-in-law is strong-stronger 

than a little horse." 

"It is not in my power," pleads Ivan. 

« But somebody must take them," replies the Elder. There is nothing 
more to be said ; you must take three shares." 

If Ivan objects to this, a vote is taken, and that decides the matter. The 
will of the mir must be obeyed. 

Then comes up a woman with a child . "And how much are you to have, 

Prascovia?" asks the Elder. 

« As the mir orders, so be it," she answers, submissively. But when he 
says she ought to have a share and a half, she is much surprised- What 
do you say, little father?" she cries. "A share and a half! Was such a 
thing ever heard of ? Since St. Peter's day my husband has been bed-ridden. 



42 Persons and Places in Europe. 

He cannot put a foot to the ground— all the same as if he were dead ; only 
he eats bread !" 

Here some one says that he was seen in the gin-shop last week, at which 
Mrs. Prascovia begins to accuse the accuser of unbecoming behavior in the 
past. The Elder interrupts her to say that she must take a share and a 
quarter ; and so the work goes on. 

In other places, where the land is more fertile, and the sharers more 
numerous perhaps, each one is anxious to receive as much land as possible. 
The Russians are greatly attached to this custom of holding the land in 
common, and will not hear of a change of system. They are not troubled 
with hard landlords, like the Irish, and, since the emancipation, there is no 
noble to use the whip when their taxes are not forthcoming or their cabins 
kept in order. 

The peasant's house is usually built of wood, sometimes of brick, and 
thatched with straw or reeds. Around it are thatched sheds for the horses 
and cattle, and the whole surrounded with a palisade of interlaced twigs. 

There is usually two rooms, a large, square wooden table, and sometimes 
one or two rude chairs. In one corner is a huge brick stove, reaching nearly 
to the ceiling, and on the top a bed for the master of the house ; the others 
sleep on the floor, or on the benches that run around the wall. In the cor- 
ner nearest the door is a three-cornered cupboard containing the holy 
picture; sometimes another, holding a few glass and earthenware articles. 
The floor is either of hard clay or boards, according to the means of the 
owner. In well-wooded districts the houses are built much better, and often 
two stories high. 

If the peasant is able, he has a bath-house, where, every Saturday night, 
he takes his vapor bath. The room is then heated very hot, and filled with 
steam by dashing water on hot stones. The whole family usually bathe 
together, switching each other with birch twigs to start the perspiration. 
While every pore is streaming they rush out door and roll in the snow. If 
too poor to have a private bath-house, they all go to the public one in the 
village, or, if he happens to live too far away, they use the oven where the 
bread is baked. Thus, whatever his circumstances, the Russian always 
takes his vapor bath; it is a part of his religion— his preparation for the 
Sabbath. 



CHAPTER II. 



SWEDEN. 



Hemmed in by Russia, Norway, the Arctic Ocean and the Baltic Sea, lies 
Sweden, the home of the reindeer and the Lapp, the country of swarming 
insect life, the land of myths and vikings. Here sprang up the religion 
of Thor and Odin which was driven out only after along struggle, by Chris- 
tianity. Sweden was also the mother of the old vikings who used to carry 
trouble and terror over Western Europe, and from whom have descended a 
brave, honest, peaceful and courteous people. 

On the north of Sweden, and stretching also across Norway and Russia, 
lies the cold, desolate country of Lapland, where the reindeer and his fur- 
clothed master struggle with a cruel climate for the necessaries of life. 
Bare rocks, forests of spruce and fir, stunted bushes and moss covers the 
land, which, in turn, is covered nearly all the year with snow. There are 
many lakes and streams which in spring overflow with water from the melt- 
ing snow, and are filled with fish, and these are about the only things in the 
shape of food that the grudging country gives the people. 

To this barren land the Lapps were driven by the stronger races that 
entered Europe, but they would not have been able to live here long with- 
out the reindeer. On him they have to depend for the necessaries of life. 
His skin furnishes them with clothing and covering for their tents, his 
milk and meat with food, and his sinews with thread with which to sew 
their clothing. On him they also must depend in winter if they would 
make a journey from one place to another, for no animal is furnished with 
a hoof like his to tread over the top of the deep snow. 

A Ride Behind a Reindeee. — A famous traveler gives us a good idea 
of the pleasures and annoyances of reindeer driving in his accounts of 
Lapland life. Both the reindeer and the sledge are hard at first to manage; 
the animal is guided by one line, and can never be induced to go slow unless he 
is very tired, and the sledge is so high and narrow that it upsets very easily. 



44 Persons and Places in Europe. 

"As soon as I had seated myself," says Bayard Taylor, " and taken 
proper hold of the rein, the signal was given to start. My deer, a strong, 
swift animal, gave a powerful leap and dashed around . the corner of the 
house and down the hill. I tried to catch my breath that had been jerked 
out of me, and keep my balance, as the pulk (sledge) swayed from side to 
side and bounced over the snow. It was too late ; in a second I found my- 
self rolling in the loose snow with the pulk bottom upward beside me. The 
deer who was attached to my arm by the rein, was standing still facing me 
with an expression of stupid surprise (but no sympathy) in his face. 

" I got up, shook myself, righted the pulk and commenced again. Off we 
went, like the wind, down the hill, the snow flying in my face and blinding 
me. My pulk made tremendous leaps, bounding from side to side, until, 
the whirlwind suddenly subsiding, I found myself off the road, deep over- 
head in the snow, choked and blinded, and with small snowdrifts in my 
pockets, sleeves and bosom. 

" Then I took a fresh start, narrowly missing another overturn as we 
descended the slope below the house, but on reaching the level I found no 
difficulty in keeping my balance. My deer struck out, passed the others 
and soon I was alone on the track greatly enjoying the exercise." 

To be gliding along so swiftly and noiselessly over the snow in the grey 
Arctic twilight, with the little Lapp huts rising dimly in the distance, was 
delightful, novel and exhilirating. 

. When the road leads down steep hills where there are sharp turns and 
high precipices reindeer sledging is too dangerous to be delightful, espec- 
ially as the reindeer always flies faster that ever when going down hill. 

In such cases he is unhitched and tied by his horns to the back of the 
sledge. This he does not like and pulls back to get away, and so keeps 
the sledge from going too swiftly, while the rider guides its course with 
his feet. 

The reindeer become so tired sometimes, struggling through the deep 
snow and up the steep hills that they drop with fatigue and lie upon their 
backs with their mouths open, panting as if each breath would be their 
last. But after resting for a while in this position they grow easier, get up 
and eat a little snow and then go on. 

The Lapps are always kind to their deer, and when going on a long and 
tedious journey take extra ones to harness when the others become tired. 
The reindeer does not take kindly to a life of drudgery. He prefers his 
freedom, and it takes two or three years to teach him to draw his master's 



Sweden. 



45 



sledge and obey his commands. Sometimes, even after he is trained, he 
becomes enraged at his driver and flies at him fnrionsly, butting him with 
his horns. But the agile little Lapp dodges behind his sledge and lets the 
deer vent his rage on that, then jumps in and goes on as if nothing had 
happened. 

Mountain Lapps. — There are two classes of Lapps, those who own rein- 
deer and live mostly in the interior of the country, called Mountain 
Lapps and those who live by fishing 
and hunting, called Sea Lapps. The 
Mountain Lapps live but a short 
time in one place ; they are obliged 
to follow their herd about here and 
there where the best pasture is to be 
found. In summer the reindeer go 
near the sea to escape the mosqui- 
toes, which are a great torment dur- 
ing the hot weather. The herd takes 
the lead swimming across rivers and 
fiords on their way, and the Lapps 
follow in boats. When the reindeers 
stop the men set up their huts and 
stay until the pasture becomes poor 
and then follow the deer to another 
place. 

In winter the herds go north to 
feed upon the reindeer moss or lichen 
found there under the snow. It is 
a curious sight, travelers say, to see 
these animals burrowing under the 
snow in search of the moss, raising little mounds over their heads and push- 
ing on until only the tips of their tails can be seen sticking up at the opening. 

When a Mountain Lapp becomes the owner of a herd of one or two 
thousand reindeer he is considered wealthy. He employs men servants 
and maid servants to tend them, and pays them for their services in rein- 
deer, the men receiving five or six, the women three animals for a year's 
work. When a young woman owns fifty reindeer she is considered quite a 
-fortune for the young man that marries her, but he must pay her father for 
her in reindeer to cover the expense she has been to him. 




A LAPP CRADLE. 



46 



Persons and Places in Europe. 



Every Mountain Lapp has his dog to assist in driving the herd, keeping 
it together and defending it from the wolves that often makes sad havoc 
among them. Night and day some one has to watch for these enemies. 
The deer themselves are quick to scent the approach of their foes. When 
they begin to look startled and move off the keepers know at once what the 
trouble is, and start in pursuit of the wolves, while others send their dogs 
running round the deer to keep them from scattering. When once they 
break away it is hard to get them back again, and the loss of forty or fifty 
deer is a sad misfortune to the owner, especially if he have but a few. 

Every night in summer the herd has to be brought up to the enclosure 
to be milked, which is quite an exciting operation. The boys run around 

the herd to bring them together, 

.:.,•.;, ,.•.::.,,„„- andthedogs dash here and there 

driving in stragglers until the 
whole herd comes trotting up in 
fine style to the enclosure. Those 
that are to be milked have to be 
caught with a lasso, which is 
another lively exercise, for often 
the resentful captive dashes round 
and round the ring after he is 
caught, dragging his master with 
him until both are tired out. The 
little Lapp always takes the matter 
coolly, never falling into a rage 
and beating the poor dumb brute, 
as some of his more enlightened brethren would be very likely to do under 
such circumstances. 

Sea Lapps. — Another class of Laplanders, called Sea Laps, usually have 
three or four dwelling places, one for each season of the year. In winter 
many of them go to the cod-fisheries off the coast of Norway, from there to 
their summer residences by a lake or river where fresh- water fishing is good, 
and, in the autumn, to their full stations to hunt birds, martins, squirrels, 
otter, bears or wild reindeer. They never own but a few of these last 
animals and these they frequently send to pasture with the mountain 
Lapps, while they are engaged with other work. 

At each station they have a rude hut, shaped something like a bee- 
hive, the framework of birch stems, the covering of birch bark and sods, 




A LAPP HUT. 



48 Persons and Places in Europe. 

the floor of mud with a small platform around the sides to sit or sleep 
upon. A pile of stones serves for a stove, and a hole in the top of the hut 
for a chimney. A pot to stew their meat in and a few wooden bowls and horn 
spoons are about all the furniture or utensils they own. The walls are fre- 
quently decorated with bladders of deer's milk and muffin-shaped cheeses. 

The prettiest article in a Lapp's tent is the tiny cradle for the baby. It is 
often covered on the outside with green baize cloth ornamented with bright 
scarlet binding. The little bed inside is made of fine moss, as soft as velvet, 1 , 
and covered with a little quilt of hare's skin. A string is fastened around 
it so that at night it can be hung up on a peg, or when the parents are 
traveling, across the mother's back. A string of prettily colored glass 
beads for his playthings are kept; near the baby's head. 

The summer huts are usually surrounded with gardens and green patches 
of pasture where a few sheep and goats can be kept. 

As a race, the Lapps are gentle and friendly, strangers to cruelty and 
crime. One tribe in Russian Lapland is said to be somewhat savage, but 
the most of them are harmless and industrious, their poor little lives are' 
used up in a constant struggle with the unfriendly country to obtain from i 
it enough to supply their simple wants. 

Aintka, the Viking Giant. — During the long winter nights the Lapp's 
often tell each other queer old legends as they sit around the fire in their i 
smoky little huts. One of their favorite stories is about a fierce giant that \ 
used to come every year to Ribatschi and demand tribute of the poor' ; 
fishers. None knew of his coming or going, but he was always seen on the • 
shore when the boats came in from the sea. Every time he came he - 
challenged the fishermen to fight, but they did not dare attack such an 
enormous creature. For many years he was the terror of Ribatschi. 

One day a young man came among the fishermen and asked to be taken 
with them on their trip. The men were all astonished at his strength in 
catching the fish and at his quickness in cleaning them after they had 
returned. 

Anika was on hand as usual for his tribute of fish, but the young man 
spoke slightingly to him. 

" He ! hi !" laughed the giant. " Be careful or I will crush you." 

The young man was not at all frightened at this, and when the giant 
challenged him to fight, quickly accepted. The method they agreed upon 
was for each to turn a summersault one after the other and strike his 
enemy in the chest with his feet. 



Sweden. 



49 



Anika took the first turn and struck the young man, but he did not 
budo-e The second blow sent him back a yard ; the third a fathom. Then 
it was the stranger's turn. His first blow drove the giant back a fathom, 




SWEDISH LAPLANDERS. 



his second three fathoms, and his third flung the huge viking seven 
fathoms outside of the ring, dead. They buried him and erected a stone 
heap over him. 



50 Persons and Places in Europe. 

The youth then told them to thank God that their enemy was dead and 
would trouble them no more. Then he disappeared. 

Mosquito Season. — During the short snmmer in Lapland and northern 
Sweden the bird and insect world break out into a state of great activity, as 
if anxious to make the most of the brief season. Early in July the 
mosquitoes begin to come, and from that time there is no peace for man or 
beast for seven weeks. 

The people prepare for their coming by covering the tops of their chim- 
neys with sod so that they cannot fly down into the room. Windows and 
doors are kept tightly closed during the whole time of their stay. Bad air is 
as nothing compared with the irritating bites of these pests, so at least the 
Swedes think. There seems to be more poison about these northern mos- 
quitoes than those of other climes, and* they have a way of finding their 
way through all kinds of netting. Travelers who come prepared with thick 
veils and long gloves find their armour insufficient. 

One traveler thus relates his attempts to fish, protected, as he supposed, 
from the mosquitoes by his veil and gloves : 

" I planted myself on a large stone from which I could reach a beautiful 
looking eddy*. But the assembly had been sounded by the leaders of the 
' migs ' (mosquitoes) to wake up any who might have been asleep and call 
them to the feast. 

"Ina few moments they began to come from all directions. I was busy 
putting my rod together and took but little notice of them at first, but as 
fresh arrivals took place fresh vigor seized the whole body of the enemy 
and they began to storm the citadel from all points. Some crawled 
through my net, others up my sleeves and into my coat. By this time my 
rod was put together and ready for a cast. But all around me the air 
was darkened with mosquitoes, the poison of their bites already began 
to irritate, and after fighting for sometime, net in one hand and rod in the 
other, I jumped on 2 the stone and took to my heels through the forest." 

An Aistt Colony. — A very thriving inhabitant of Sweden is a large 
black ant, whose industry during the short summer enables it to provide 
for a long winter of idleness. 

The hillocks of these ants are sometimes six or seven feet high, made of 
piles of Avithered fern-needles, small twigs, rotten bark and light mould. 
Each mound contains many thousands of black inhabitants. 

They are so busy running to and fro that one would think they were 
always having a great political meeting or that their house was on fire. 



52 Persons and Places in JEurope. 

But after watching them awhile one sees that their movements are all in 
perfect order. Each one has his task to perform and he does it with all his 
little might. No drones are allowed in this colony, neither do they allow 
intruders. If one sits down too near their habitation he is soon invited, by 
means of many very forcible little nips, to take himself away. 

A gentleman once threw his glove upon the top of an ant-hill to seek 
what they would do with it, and he was much amused at .their queer perfor- 
mances. At first they fell into the greatest confusion. They collected in a 
mob to view the calamity that had befallen them. They examined it in 
every possible position, some burrowing inside, and arrviving at the top 
through a small hole between the thumb and forefinger. Others clustered 
around the button at the wrist as if speculating as to what that could 
possibly be, and why so different from the rest. A few gathered about in 
groups and seemed to consult as to whether this strange substance could be 
made use of or should be removed. Very little time, however, was spent in 
idle discussion. No long speeches were made, and a speedy decision was 
reached. Thirty or forty strong ants approached the thumb cautiously, 
seized it, and pulled stoutly. The glove moved. This quickly dispelled the 
fears of the rest. The whole crowd made a rush at it and in a few moments 
had dragged it to the edge of the hill. Then a startling accident happened. 
The little finger fell over the brow of the hill with such suddenness that 
some forty of the small folks were sent flying head over heels down upon 
the grass at the foot. But none of them appeared to be injured by the fall, 
and the others kept on dragging the glove. Suddenly, as they reached the 
edge of the mound, the glove slid down the hill carrying nearly the whole 
colony of terrified ants along with it. To see how surprised they were, how 
quickly they scrambled up to the top of their hill again, and how they 
gathered about in groups, as if talking over the wonderful invasion, and 
their happy escape, was very amusing and entertaining to one interested in 
the ways of such small folks. 

The Great God Odin. — Not far from the city of Upsala is a plain that 
used to be considered sacred ground by the ancient Scandinavians. It was 
the burial place of their great god Odin. There stood a large temple erected 
to his honor, and there stands yet three large mounds which the people be- 
lieve to be the tombs of Odin, his wife Frigg and his son Thor. 

The worship of Odin ceased about a thousand years ago, when Christi- 
anity was introduced, and now people look upon him simply as an ancient 
Scythian hero, around whose name many legends grew after he died. No 



Sweden. 53 

clear account of him can be found. It is supposed that he came from near 
the Caspian Sea,bringing with him perhaps the first band of Scythians that 
invaded Scandinavia. He seems to have stopped at the island of Funen in 
Denmark, for the Danes claim that he landed there and founded Odense. 
From there he went to Sweden and settled near Upsala. 

After dwelling at Upsala for some time, engaging in many wars and per- 
forming many feats of valor, he called his people around him and told them 
that he was going back to Asgard, to take his seat among the gods and pre- 
pare an eternal banquet in Valhalla for all those who should fight like 
heroes and die bravely with their swords in their hands. 

He then charged his followers to burn his body after he left it, and 
disdaining to wait for death, he killed himself with nine spear- wounds in 
his breast. 

After he was dead his people began to regard him as a god ; they 
built a magnificent temple for him at Upsala and offered costly sacrifices, 
sometimes human victims. His warriors became fiercer than ever, led on 
by the hope of winning a place in the hall of Valhalla. There, they said, 
they should have nothing to do except to feast and fight ; but the wounds 
they received would not then be fatal. A warrior might be all cut to pieces, 
but when the call to the feast sounded he would recover at once, spring 
upon his steed and return to the banquet hall. 

In battle they were encouraged by thought that the Valkyries, the celes- 
tial maidens whom Odin sent through the earth to find the bravest heroes, 
were hovering over them to carry at once to Valhalla those who fell fight- 
ing gloriously. 

Odin and the Wise Giant. — Besides his reputation as a great warrior, 
Odin came to be regarded as a very wise man. He invented the use of 
Runes, they said, the characters used in ancient Scandinavian writing. 
Among the many stories told of his wisdom is one about a discussion he 
once had with a very wise giant. 

Disguised as a traveler Odin came to the giant's abode, and was kindly 
received. After a while it was proposed that they have a discussion on 
scientific subjects, but the one that was beaten was to lose his head. The 
giant began by asking many questions about the religion of Odin, all of 
which were answered with such wisdom that the giant was greatly surprised. 

When it came the traveler's turn he asked the giant about the future 
state of the soul. 

" Tell me," he said," what do the heroes in Valhalla ?" 



54 People and Places in Europe. 

The giant who was well versed in the religion of Odin answered readily, 
taking great pains to explain everything as simply as if he were talking to 
a child. 

Odin listened quietly, and when he had finished, said in a low, deep voice: 

"Tell me the words that Odin whispered in the ear of his son Baldur, 
when Baldur lay on the funeral pyre ?" 

At this the giant grew pale as death, for he knew that no one but Odin 
himself knew those words, and that it must be he who sat before him. 

" My doom, my doom, great Odin !" he cried. " Let the deed of celes- 
tial destiny be done. Let it fall on him who has dared to talk of sacred 
things to Odin, wisest of the gods." 

Odin then told the giant that there was a higher question than that of 
life and death, that it dealt with the existence of Odin and Baldur in the 
new world where no evil comes. 

. The Great God Thor. — The stories that were told of Odin began to in- 
clude after a time the names of his two sons, Thor and Baldur. Thor, it 
was said, was the bravest, strongest and swiftest of the gods. Unlike his 
father he was not in favor of war, but when he was called uiDon to defend 
the gods and men from the evil giants he could prove a most terrible war- 
rior. With his great hammer, that always returned to his hand of itself 
after being thrown, he dealt most deadly blows. This hammer he could 
not lift unless he had on his iron gauntlets which gave him miraculous 
strength. Then, too, he had a girdle that always kept him supplied with 
strength. When he found himself growing weak all he had to do was to 
press upon the girdle and at once he was as fresh and strong as ever. His 
chariot was drawn by two rams, and when he rode over the bridge Gjallar 
the noise made the heavens tremble. This, men called thunder, they said. 
The rams that drew the chariot had also very remarkable powers. When 
the god was hungry he killed and ate them, but the bones he gathered up 
carefully and put back in the skins. By morning there were the two rams 
alive and well, ready to draw his chariot and be eaten again the next day. 

From this old Scandinavian god we get our name for Thursday, which 
means Thor 's day. Wednesday also means Wodin's day, or Odin's day. 

The Fate of Baldur. — Baldur, the second son of Odin, had the reputa- 
tion of being a very graceful, eloquent and amiable god. He possessed 
every good quality. He was so beautiful that rays of light seemed to dart 
from his person, and his eyes shone more brilliantly than the morning star. 
He was also very powerful ; he could still a tempest, and he made all of his 



Sweden . 55 

brothers obey Mm. But lie seldom took part in any of their pastimes, he 
preferred to stay in his beautiful palace in the bright zone of the heavens. 

It was said that the happiness of all the gods depended upon the fate of 
Baldur. During his life they were to be secure ; but when he should die 
evil would befall them. From the book of destiny Odin found that Bal- 
dur' s death had been foretold, and when the gods learned this terrible 
secret they were filled with fear. 

Then Frigg, the wife of Odin, the mother of Baldur, called upon every 
object in nature to swear that it would not furnish arms against her son or 
in any way injure him. Every element, fire, water, earth, rocks and trees all 
swore a solemn oath not to harm Baldur. But one plant was forgotten, the 
mistletoe. Loki, the evil one, saw this and resolved to take advantage of it. 

It began to be a great amusement in the palace of Odin to throw darts at 
Baldur when it was found that nothing would injure him. It was a 
pleasure to them, and to him also, to see their weapons fall harmlessly from 
his charmed person. But the crafty Loki prepared a weapon of the fatal 
mistletoe and put it in the hands of a blind brother of Baldur, playfully 
telling him to shoot and he would guide his hand. This brother, not know- 
ing what the weapon was, nor who it was that gave it to him, raised the dart 
and let it fly at Baldur. Guided by the Loki it flew straight to its mark, 
and Baldur fell lifeless to the ground. 

Then there was great consternation among the gods. They remembered 
that terrible evil was to befall them when Baldur died, so a messenger was 
sent in haste to the abode of Hel,(death),to see if she would not give Baldur 
back to them. She replied that if the whole world would weep for him she 
would give him back. Then the gods sent out messengers requesting every- 
thing in the world to weep for Baldur, and there was a great lamentation. 
Everything, gods and men, plants, animals, stones and the earth joined in 
the general mourning. But on his way home the messenger met an old giant 
woman who would not weep. Hel therefore would not give up her dead. 

Then followed a terrible war between the gods and the descendents of 
Loki, the evil giants. While it was waging the gods learned that the giant 
woman who had refused to weep for Baldur was Loki himself in disguise. 
They therefore sought for him until they found nim, bound him on a rock 
and hung a venomous snake over him in such a way that the poison 
dropped continually on his face. 

The story also says that his wife Sigyn sits by his side and receives the 
poison into a dish ; but when the dish is full and she goes away to empty 



56 Persons and Places in Europe. 

it, the venom then drops on Loki's face and causes him snch pain that the 
world shakes with his agonized struggles. 

The Viking ae. — When the followers of Odin had f ought among them- 
selves until they were tired, they began to long for new fields of battle. 
To the south, they had heard, were many rich countries where every good 
thing abounded. Why not go there and help themselves ? 

Tims it came to pass that about the middle of the eight century, the 
people of Europe, who until that time knew very little of the Scandinavians, 
in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, saw queer square-sailed vessels sailing 
down from the North sea, filled with fierce looking warriors. Wherever 
these Northmen landed terrible scenes followed ; people were murdered, 
their goods carried off and their houses left in ashes. Every year fresh 
numbers came, more towns and villages were destroyed, and in vain the 
terror-stricken people prayed, " Deliver us, O Lord, from the rage of the 
Norsemen." 

These Norsemen, Northmen, or Normans, as they were called, from the 
region whence they came, were descendants of the fierce followers of Odin. 
Having learned the art of war to perfection and fought among themselves 
until they were tired, they now started out in search of plunder. It was 
altogether beneath their idea of a warrior's dignity to hoe and plant, but 
the business of viking— robbing, murdering and burning, was perfectly 
proper and honorable, they thought. 

The people of the south were all unprepared for defending themselves 
against such savage foes ; and the kings of France and England, after a 
time triecl to hire the Northmen to stay away. Their money was accepted, 
but the next year the robbers came again and demanded more. As it was 
better to give gold and silver than to be murdered,the people agreed to pay 
for the privilege of being let alone, and the Norman came each year for their 
tribute until the countries were able to resist them. 

Ragnee Lodbeog.— One of the most terrible Vikings that ever visited 
the shores of Europe, was one whose exploits made him a favorite hero in 
all the Scandinavian country. In his younger days he was anxious to 
marry a very beautiful princess named Tora, who was closely guarded by a 
dragon that no one could get near her. This dragon had a very disagree- 
able habit of biting the legs of all who approached him, so Ragner prepared 
himself against such attacks by wearing a pair of thick leather leggings, 
hence his name of Lodbrog. Attired in these he went out, killed the dragon, 
and married the princess. 



Sweden. 57 

Ragner's last " viking " expedition was against England, from which he 
never returned. He intended it to be the most glorious of any he had yet 
undertaken. He fitted out two ships, the largest that had ever been built 
in the north, and sent an arrow, the signal of war, throughout his dominion 
to call together his warriors. They came flocking to him, ready for the fray, 
and the big ships set sail upon their murderous voyage. But fate did not 
favor him as it had in former times. The vessels were shipwrecked off the 
coast of Northumberland, and when the warriors landed they were not in so 
good a condition for fighting as they might have been. The Saxon king, 
Ella, was also quite well prepared to receive them, and they were soon 
worsted. 

Lodbrog, clothed in his enchanted robe, that his queen had made for him 
just before he left home, broke the Saxon ranks four times, dealing terrible 
death-blows all around him with his huge spear ; but at last his men were 
all killed, and he was taken prisoner and cast into a den of serpents. At 
first the reptiles did not touch him, but when he was stripped of his 
enchanted robe they fastened upon him and in a few minutes stung him to 
death. He died singing his famous death song, which is still preserved 
among the Scandinavian legends, and which tells how he had during his life 
" prepared ample food for the ravenous wolves and the yellow-footed eagles." 

The Blood Bath. — A stop was put to "viking" when Christianity 
began to take the place of the religion of Odin in the north. The people 
began to till their lands instead of fighting. All three of the Scandinavian 
countries, Sweden, Norway and Denmark were united under one govern- 
ment and began to grow civilized; but after a time the rulers, who were 
always Danes, treated the Swedes harshly, and they began to wish for a 
king and a government of their own. At last they made an effort to set up 
a Swedish king. This made the Danish king very angry. He put a stop to 
the movement, and prepared a severe punishment for all the nobles and 
leading men that he thought were concerned in it. In the great market- 
place of Stockholm ninety of these men were led out and beheaded one at a 
time, while the people looked on stunned with horror. They shrunk away 
to their homes, but were not allowed to close their eyes on the horrid scene, 
for a heavy rain came down and mingled with the blood of the slain, 
carrying it along the street into the very doorways. 

The fearful sight was called the "Blood Bath," and from that time the 
Swedes hated the Danish tyrant with an intense hatred, and never gave up 
their determination to be free from Danish rule. 



f>8 Persons and Places in Europe. 

Gustavus Vasa. — At the time of the " blood bath " a young Swedish 
noble was hiding from the Danish king in the forests, where he worked in 
the guise of a farmer. For a while he worked as a miner in Delecarlia. 
Here he heard of the death of his father, who was one of the victims of the 
"blood bath." He began to urge the men about him to rise against the 
Danish tyrant. Then he told them who he was, and soon he had collected 
quite a band of patriots. Sixteen powerful men became his body-guard 
and several hundred joined him as foot followers. 

The Danes tried to turn the Swedes against him and his men, saying 
they were lawless rebels, but their talk had no effect. 

A company of eight thousand soldiers were sent against Gustavus by 
the governor whom Christian had appointed at Stockholm. When he saw 
the number of men in the patriotic company all drawn up and ready to 
light he asked where they all came from, and what they could get to eat in 
that desolate region. He was told that when they could get nothing else 
they drank water and ate bread made from the bark of the fir tree. 

" If this be so, my comrades," he said, " let us retreat while we may, for 
the devil himself, let alone ordinary mortals, could never subdue people who 
lived on wood and water." He therefore turned around and went back to 
Stockholm. 

AVhen the peasantry heard of this they were encouraged to come out 
boldly in favor of Gustavus and defy the Danes. Soon twenty thousand 
men gathered around his standard. Fresh victories brought fresh troops, 
and in a little while the whole of the northern part of Sweden had thrown 
off the Danish yoke. 

But Christian'' s cruelties were drawing to a close. His own people were 
disgusted with him and put him in prison. Then the Swedish nobles met 
and elected Gustavus Vasa king of Sweden. 

Warrior KijSTgs. — During the century following that in which Gustavus 
Yasa lived, two kings arose in Sweden who proved that the land of Odin 
could still produce warriors when they were needed. The first was Gusta- 
vus Adolphus, a direct descendant of the other Gustavus, who found him- 
self in trouble with Danes, Russians and Poles during the first years of his 
reign. He overcame them all and by his wise rule, made the people prosper- 
ous and happy and very proud of their young king. 

At this time the "thirty years war" was raging in Europe, between the 
Catholics and Protestants. The Swedes were Protestants, and they saw 
that if their brethren down in Germany were conquered there would be 




VIKING. 



60 Persons and Places in Europe. 

trouble in store for them. At least Gustavus saw this, and, calling his peo- 
ple together, he told them that he had long wished to help the persecuted 
brethren, and now he was ready to go with as many soldiers as would follow 
him. Then he took his little five-year-old daughter up in his arms, com- 
mended her to their care as their future queen if he never came back, and 
after a few touching farewell words closed the meeting with prayer. 

Twenty thousand Swedes followed their king into Germany, and there 
began a series of conquests that made him the hero of the war. Within 
eight months he had taken eighty fortified places, and during the next two 
years defeated three times the greatest general of Europe, who had never 
before been vanquished. 

His last battle was fought at Lutzen, and there the hero was slain while 
leading a charge early in the day. The sight of his riderless horse rushing 
back from the front was the first intimation his men had of his fall, and it 
filled them with such fury that they rushed madly on their foes and carried 
the day. 

Among twelve thousand dead and dying, the body of Gustavus was 
found after the battle, covered with wounds and trampled by hoofs until 
it could scarcely be recognized. It was taken up tenderly, carried to a little 
church, and, after a funeral service, embalmed and sent to Sweden amid 
universal mourning. Even his enemies could not but admire his military 
skill, his heroism and his kindness to the vanquished. 

About sixty years afterward another military meteor flashed out from 
Sweden, and astonished Europe by his sudden conquests. This was Charles 
XII., who, coming to the throne when a mere boy, and showing more taste 
for boyish sports than for the affairs of his kingdom, led the greedy rulers 
around him to suppose themselves safe in seizing some of his territory. 

He laid down his playthings at once and descended with fury upon his 
enemies, compelled the Danes to sue for peace, vanquished the Poles, and 
drove Peter from Narva with but a handful of men compared with the host 
of Russians. But the Swedish star sank as suddenly as it rose. His rival, 
Peter the Great, learned his arts of warfare at Narva so well that he used 
them against him afterward with good effect ; and by bad judgment Charles 
lost the fruits of his brilliant victories, so that he left his kingdom in more 
trouble than he found it. 



CHAPTER III. 



NORWAY. 



The Country of Norway bounds the northwestern coast of Europe with 
a thick fringe of high capes and walled bays, the handwork of the ancient 
glaciers that have cub and ground and polished the face of the earth in so 
many places during the ages of the past, while the interior is full of 
abrupt precipices, broad terraces, huge boulders, interesting subjects to the 




NORSE SHIP OF THE TENTH CENTURY. 



geologist, and of beautiful valleys and magnificent waterfalls. And the 
people, though they boast of no glorious history, such as the world calls 
glorious, have made good progress 'in civilization in spite of the severe 
climate and unfriendly soil. The cold weather has but warmed their hearts 
and the grudging soil brought out their perseverance and energy. 



62 Persons and Places in .Europe. 

The Fjords.— The numerous narrow bays along the coast called 
" fjords " extend, some but a short distance inland, others reach, like long 
arms, far into the interior, their waters studded with small islands, some 
rocky and barren, others clothed with grass and trees, and, if large enough, 
inhabited. 

The giant of these ocean arms is the Songe fjord on the most western 
point of the coast. It resembles a tree with its numerous offshoots, corres- 
ponding to branches and twigs. These dark crooked lanes of water expand- 
ing here and there into lakes are lined with wooded precipices and musical 
with roaring cataracts. 

Another large fjord, full of pleasing surprises at every turn, is the Chris- 
tiana, wku.i extends into the interior a distance of seventy or eighty miles. 
The water is deep and studded with green wooded islands. Range upon 
range of rugged mountains stretch away upon either side, and in the dis- 
tance snowy peaks of inland ranges glisten in the sun. In the valleys rich 
fields of yellow grain make a bright contrast with the dark green of the sur- 
rounding pines. And all of these rich hues are repeated in reflections upon 
the still surface of the water of the fjord. 

To complete the picture are the queer old fashioned cottages perched 
upon the hill-tops, the thrifty gardens on every slope, and the busy workers 
at the numerous wharves along the way. 

Fosses. — The rivers of Norway do not flow along like ordinary rivers ; 
they plunge and rush and roar along as if in breathless haste to join the 
fjords, and furiously angry at everything that gets in their way. They 
boil around the boulders, plunge over precipices and fill the air with their 
thunderings and their dashing spray. On every side are the most beautiful 
waterfalls, where the stream comes pouring in a smooth curved band over 
the rock above and thundering into the deep cauldron which it has pounded 
out of the rocks beneath. 

After a little it reappears further on shattered into a thousand snowy 
fragments that tumble along down a rugged slope and are tossed by every 
ledge into still greater confusion. Denser masses of spray arise and the 
sun shining on them makes glorious rainbows. Presently a great ledge 
bars the path and beats the foaming water into dust. But another fall of 
five hundred feet awaits it, and after passing that it spreads out into a mul- 
titude of little rills and disappears. • 

One of the most beautiful cascades in Norway is the Ringsdal foss — 
" foss " means force in Norse— in the Sor fjord. At its first leap the heavy 



Nor id ay. 



63 



body of water plunges over a precipice 
eight hundred feet high, and then, 
angry and turbulent, leaps to another 
ledge from which it is tossed more 
frantic than ever. Thicker and 
heavier clouds of spray arise, are 
seized by the strong current of air and 
tossed into a hundred beautiful and 
fantastic shapes. At one moment it 
forms a spiral column, coiling and re- 
coiling upon itself, 
bounding forward and 
backward, and up and 




down, then breaking 
into new shapes it 
finally makes another plunge from 
which it is driven into an utter des- 
peration of mist. A vast cloud arises 



Im-, 



64 Persons and Places in Euroiie. 

above the stream and skims along the narrow gorge for a distance o 
abont two hundred yards, then meeting another fall the whole torrent 
vanishes in a cloud of spray. 

Fjelds. — Norway, though a mountainous country, has no mountain 
ranges ; it has a series of elevated table-lands from which rise numerous 
sudden peaks and boulders. The table-lands called "fjelds," or fields,, 
because they look like broad, flat fields, rise one above another in terraces 
which are marked off in many places by marks' of ancient sea-levels, as 
though the land had risen gradually out of the ocean, one terrace at a time. 
Some people think that this has been the case, for it is found that the sur- 
face is now gradually rising a few inches every hundred years. 

Between the steeps and precipices are many gullies filled with snow, the \ 
heads of glaciers like their predecessors that have ploughed the valleys and 
polished the rocks in ages gone by. 

One of the most noted peaks in Norway is the Romsdal horn, near the 
Molde fjord, which springs up out of a valley to a distance of four thou- 
sand feet like a monstrous shattered steeple. Many ragged peaks surround 
it, and on its left side is a great notched and jagged wall that seems, from 
the valley below, to scrape the sky. Here and there on the walls are large 
scars where masses of rock have broken off and tumbled down to the river 
bed below. There they may still be seen with the water boiling and foam- 
ing around them. Such a rock, on a much smaller scale, is the North Cape, 
the last jagged mass of the fjelds on the north, and for a long time thought 
to be the northernmost point of Europe. It is a barren wedge-shaped mass 
with its base dipped in the cold waters of the Arctic, which dash furiously 
against it during the winter storms, and surrounded by other barren rocks, 
whistling winds and shrieking sea fowl. 

The Midnight Sun.— Travelers frequently go to the summit of the 
North Cape to see one of the wonders of the northern regions, the midnight 
sun. It is there that the continual day first dawns and there its last hours 
linger longest. 

The length of the summer day and the winter night varies as one goes 
north or south from the North Cape to the Arctic circle. At the cape the 
last glimpse of the sun is caught on the eighteenth of November, at Ham- 
merfast on the twenty-first, while at Bodo, much farther south, it is seen 
until the fifteenth of December. 

After the sun disappears there is still a bright glow in the east every 
day, but as winter deepens, it keeps fading until there are only a couple of 



Norway. 65 

hours at noon when one can see to read by daylight. When the weather is 
stormy the lamps must be kept burning all day. 

This season used to be one of mournful distress and anxiety among the 
natives. They used to send messengers to the hill- tops to watch for the 
sun's return. When the news was brought that a little light was to be seen 
a festival was proclaimed, which was the most joyful of all their feasts. 

In January, at Hammerfast, there begins to be a little light at noon, and 
about the twenty-first the sun just shows his face above the horizon. The 
next day he stays in sight a little longer, and the next day longer still. 
As May approaches he is in the sky nearly all of the twenty-four hours. 
Each time he dips below the horizon his stay is shorter. Wild flowers then 
begin to spring up in the fields as suddenly as if by magic, the leaves burst 
out and the rivers swell and dance. 

On the thirteenth of May at Hammerfast the sun does not set at all. 
At twelve oclock at night he can be seen hanging low down on the horizon, 
the midnight sun. 

From this time until the twenty- seventh of July he never sets. People 
must go to bed in broad daylight and sleep with his rays shining in at the 

windows . 

One of the strangest things about this midnight sun is the changes in 
Ms appearance. As the last hour of the twenty-four approaches his light 
grows very pale, wierd-like and very drowsy, and the sky in the west has 
every appearance of sunset. The birds go to their nests, the dew falls. But 
a few minutes after twelve he begins to brighten. The mellow light passes 
away and the whole sky becomes brilliant as at sunrise. 

The Aurora Borealis.— An ancient Roman writer who visited Germany 
many years ago heard there that far to the north was a sea which men 
believed to be the girdle or frontier of the earth, because, they said,' there 
the brightness of the sun lasts till his rising, and there also is to be seen at 
times the forms of divine beings and a head crowned with rays. " Surely," 
he said, " this point must be the place where the world comes to an end." 

In those days men had not traveled over very much of the earth, nor 
studied into its strange appearances. They did not know anything about a 
midnight sun, nor much about that other phenomenon whose mysterious 
light shines brightest in these far northern regions— the aurora borealis. 

° During the long, dark night when the ocean roars and dashes against 
the rock-bound coast, then this strange light flashes like a huge shining fan 
over the northern heavens with a brilliancy and wierdness that is never seen 



66 Persons and Places in Europe. 

in more southern lands. It often furnishes light enough for all kinds of 
ordinary work. 

Bayard Taylor gives a very vivid description of an universally brilliant 
aurora that occurred during his visit to Norway. 

First a narrow belt of silver fire appeared stretching directly across the 
zenith, with its loose frayed ends slowly swaying to and fro down the slopes 
of the sky. Presently it began to waver, bending back and forth, sometimes 
slowly, sometimes with a quick springing motion. Now it took the shape 
of a bow, now of Hogarth's line of beauty, brightening and fading in its 
sinuous motion, and finally formed a shepherd's crook, the end of which 
suddenly began to separate and fall off as if driven by a strong wind, until 
the whole belt shot away in long drifting lines of fiery light. It then 
gathered again into a dozen dancing fragments, which alternately ad- 
vanced and retreated, shot hither and thither, against and across each other, 
blazed out in yellow and rosy gleams, or paled again, playing a thousand 
fantastic pranks, as if guided by some wild whim. 

Suddenly the scattered lights ran together, as by a common impulse, 
joined their bright ends, twisted them through each other, and fell in a 
broad luminous curtain straight downward through the air until its fringed 
hem swung apparently but a few yards over our heads. It did not follow 
the spheric curve of the firmament bu-fc hung plumb from the zenith, fall- 
ing apparently millions of leagues through the air, its folds gathered 
together among the stars, and its embroidery of flame sweeping the earth, 
shedding a pale unearthly radiance over the wastes of snow. A moment 
afterward and it was drawn up again, parted, waved its flambeaux and shot 
its lances hither and thither, advancing and retreating as before. " Noth- 
ing," says the traveler," so strange, so capricious, so wonderful, so gloriously 
beautiful I ever expect to see again." 

The Maelstrom. — Looking west from the mainland of Norway between 
Bodo and Tromso, one sees a dark uneven wall rising from the water far 
out at sea. It is the Loffoden group, whose sharp jagged peaks used to be 
looked upon with much reverence by the ancient mariners. They thought 
it was the abode of the gods and that to guard ifc from the approach of 
mortals the terrible maelstrom had been placed at its entrance. Fearful 
stories were told about this mysterious whirpool. If ships once came within 
reach of its current, it was said, they would be surely drawn toward the 
unfathomable abyss and then suddenly disappear, never to be heard from 
again. . _ 



Norway. 



67 



But this mysterious abyss itself has now vanished ; all that is fonnd there 
is a very swift current running between two little islands at the southern 
extremity of the group, which in stormy weather in winter, or during a 
strong gale, is dangerous for small craft, and large vessels if not well 
handled may be drifted against the rocks ; but there is no whirling eddy, 
no mysterious abyss yawning to engulf unfortunate vessels. The frail 
boats of the Norwegians may 
be seen passing through it at 
almost any time, stopping to 
fish in its very midst. 

Harold the Fair- 
haired. — The countless 
nooks and crannies about the 
shores and islands of Nor- 
way were fine hiding places 
for the old vikings who used 
to lurk there in their ships, 
ready to dart out at the call 
of their chiefs to pillage and 
murder. Great was their 
wrath when one of their 
chiefs, having made himself 
king, said "viking" was 
disgraceful robbery and de- 
clared that it should no 
longer be carried on within 
the bounds of Norway. 

This brave and high- 
minded man, the first king 
of Norway, was called Harold 
the Fair-haired, because of 
his long fair hair. Before 

his time there had been no one chief powerful enough to subdue the others. 
This he undertook to do, because, so they say, a fair girl whom he wished 
to marry refused to become his wife unless he would make himself a king. 
He thought the task worth attempting, called his followers around him and 
made a solemn vow to leave his fair hair uncut and uncombed until he had 
made himself king of Norway. 




A GLACIER. 



68 Persons and Places in Europe. 

His men all praised him. for his resolution and promised to stand by him. 
So the fighting began. First one powerful chief and then another submitted 
to Harold until the rest who had not been conquered grew alarmed. They 
saw that they could do nothing alone against the conqueror, and so all 
united their forces and took their stand at a little fjord west of the present 
city of Stavenger, to resist their common enemy. Here a terrible battle was 
fought, the air was full of flying stones and spears and arrows, and many 
of Harold's best men fell. But the chieftains fell also one by one, until there 
were none left who dared to oppose him. 

Then he had his hair cut, proclaimed himself king and married the beau- 
tiful G-yda. 

A few of the chiefs who had escaped on the day of battle. declared that 
they would never submit to be ruled by a king. If they could no longer be 
their own masters in Norway they would go where they could. They had 
heard of a large island far to the west, which their forefathers had visited, 
but the stories brought of the terrible giants who lived there under the 
earth, and kept throwing out hot water and stones, had discouraged others 
from going. 

Now these chiefs said they would rather take their chances with the 
giants than to be ruled by Harold Haarfager. So a number of them took 
their wives, their children and all that they had, boarded their vessels and 
sailed away to Iceland. 

With nothing to oppose him Harold then went on strengthening and 
improving his kingdom. And then it was that he commanded the earls to 
stop their viking cruises and stay at home and cultivate their land. This 
-was more than the conquered chiefs could stand. They had always consid- 
ered viking very right and proper business for warriors ; but to stay at home 
and work was altogether beneath their dignity, so they packed their goods 
and followed the others to Iceland. A few stopped on the way at the islands 
on the north of Scotland and settled there. 

It was at this time that the Northmen, while sailing out in search of new 
homes, ventured still farther than Iceland, some to Greenland and some to 
the eastern shores of America, which they called Yinland. But for some 
reason they did not choose to settle so far from the fatherland, and the 
:account of their visit never went further than their own " sagas " until after 
Columbus came across America on his way to India. 

i The Yule Feast at Feowdheim. — Hakon, the youngest son of Harold, 
the Fair-haired, spent most of his youth in England, where he was sent by 



Norway. 



69 



his father. When he came home he found the people suffering great 
wrongs at the hands of his brother Erik, who had become king, and who on 
account of his cruelties was called " Bloodaxe." Harold told the people that 
if they would make him king he would treat them kindly, they were very 
glad to hear this and crowned him without delay. His brother Erik could 
not raise followers enough to fight him and so left the country. While 
Hakon was in England he had become a Christian, and after he was 
thoroughly established on the throne he called a great meeting at Frond- 
heim, and standing up before the people told them that their religion was 
not the true religion ; that there were no such gods as Odin and Thor and 
Frigg; that there was only one God, the Lord, and he wanted them to serve 

him. 

The people were much astonished and very angry at this. They had a 
high regard for the gods their forefathers had worshipped so many years, 
and were not ready to give them up. One of the chiefs rose and said that 
if the king was going to make them give up their gods and adopt a new 
religion he should have nothing more to do with him. And this speech the 
whole multitude loudly applauded. 

Then the very polite and cautious Sigurd, Hakon' s uncle, stood up and 
said that the king had no desire to force the new religion upon them, he 
was simply recommending to them what he believed to be a better belief 
than their old one. But this did not entirely dispel the anger of the people, 
they insisted that Hakon should come to the great Yule feast that was 
approaching and offer the sacrifice to the idols, as their other kings had 
done. Sigurd promised that Hakon should do as they wished and the people 
then went home. 

On the day of the feast a great multitude came together at Frondheim. 
The king was there, and when the sacred drinking horn that had been conse- 
crated to Odin was offered to him they watched to see what he would do. 
Now the king had decided that to appease the people he would drink, but 
he would first make the sign of the cross in order to consecrate it anew to 
the Lord. His subjects saw the motion and burst out in an angry uproar. 
But Sigurd quieted them by saying that the sign the king had made was 
that of Thor's mallet. 

A short time after this the idolators found that the king was building 
churches and attending them. Again they were very angry, and gathering 
a large multitude they burned the churches, seized the king and compelled 
him to eat a piece of horseflesh, which was considered a proof of paganism, 



70 Persons and Places in JEurope. 

and drink three horns of wine, one to Odin, one to Thor and one to Frigg. 
All of this Hakon did upon the advice of his uncle, but it made him more 
disgusted than ever with their superstitions and more determined to put an 
end to idolatry. He also decided to punish them for their disgraceful 
treatment of himself — their king. 

Had this threat been carried out there would probably have been a fierce 
war in Norway, but just then Hakon' s nephews, the sons of Erik Blood- 
axe, came with a number of Danes from Denmark to lay claim to the throne 
of their father. Hakon was obliged to call on the people to assist him, 
which they cheerfully did, for in spite of his having forsaken their gods 
they were very fond of him for his kindness. They came, therefore, and 
fought galantly until the sons of Erik were obliged to flee back to Den- 
mark. 

Hakon had not the heart after this to attempt to force his religion upon 
the people who had served him so well. He remained a Christian himself 
and induced many of his personal friends to forsake their idol worship. 
The people became more and more attached to him, and after he died they 
always spoke of him as Hakon the Good. 

Olaf Tryggvason and the Pagans. — The honor of overthrowing idola- 
try in Norway belongs to Olaf Tryggvason, a grandson of Hakon the Good, 
and a very famous man in many respects. Before he became king he 
had a number of exciting adventures, of which marvelous stories are told. 
When he was but a baby, his cousins, the sons of Erik, and their mother, 
Gunhild, tried to kill him, but his mother escaped with him to Russia, 
where he grew up a dashing young viking. 

One time when he was off on a cruise, he happened to be in Ireland on 
the day when a young princess was to choose a husband. A large number 
of nobles all dressed in their best, glittering in scarlet and gold, had ranged 
themselves in a row in the streets, and a little to one side looking at the 
show stood Olaf in his fur hood and cape thrown carelessly around him. 

As the princess passed along, looking to see which of the nobles pleased 
her most, she caught sight of the handsome Northman. Walking up to him 
she looked him over and said she would take him for her husband. 

Olaf, of course, was well pleased, and so he married the princess, settled 
down in Ireland, and, in time, became a Christian. 

After a while, his cousin, king of Norway heard of him and felt sure 
that sooner or later he would come back to claim the throne. So he sent a 
man to Ireland to tell Olaf that the people in Norway were rebelling against 



Norway. 



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the king, and that if he 

would only come and 

make himself known 

as the grandson of 

Hakon the Good they 

would receive him with 

open arms. When once Olaf was in 

Norway, Hakon thought he could easily 

get him out of the way. 




72 Persons and Places in Europe. 

The young prince listened to the messenger, believed him, and returned 
with him to Norway. "When the ship landed what was the astonishment of 
the messenger to find than he had told the truth. The people were in open 
rebellion against the king, and as soon as they heard that Olaf Tryggvason 
was come, they received him with great gladness and crowned him king 
at once. 

Like Hakon the Good, Olaf as soon as he was established determined to 
put away idolatry and introduce Christianity, but unlike Hakon he went 
about it in no gentle manner. He too summoned a great meeting and told 
the people that their idols were nothing but wood and stone, that the Lord 
was the only true G-od and they must worship him. This aroused the 
people's anger at once, and they made such an uproar that the king could 
not say a word ; and they threathened to chase him out of the country if 
he said anything more against their gods. To appease them he promised to 
attend the Yule feast and offer the sacrifice. 

But when he came to the feast with four of the most zealous idol 
worshippers bound, and said that those were the sacrifices he should offer to 
Odin, the people were taken back. The four men thought they would 
rather be baptized into the Christian faith than offered up to Odin, so he let 
them have their choice. 

But the multitude still remained obstinate and would not listen when he 
tried to talk to them. So he bade them come with him into the idol temple. 
There he walked around, looked at the idols carefully, and then while all the 
people were watching him raised his staff and knocked the great god Thor 
off his pedestal and broke him all to pieces. Before the horrified people 
had time to recover their surprise they found that their most zealous leader, 
Ironbeard, had been killed. They had now no leader, and when the king 
told them to take their choice either to be baptized or fight with him on the 
spot they concluded to be baptized. 

From this time paganism was uprooted in Norway though there was 
much fighting and bloodshed before the peasants were ready to give up 
their long-cherished idols. 

The Hero of the Kringlejst Pass. — In the second century after Olaf 
Tryggvason, the prosperity of Norway began to decline. Her line of kings 
ran out, years of strife followed, and in 1380 she became a province of Den- 
mark. After a period of over four hundred years she was transferred from 
Denmark to Sweden with which country she is still united, but she has com- 
pelled the Swedes to recognize her as an equal. Though reduced by bad 



Norway. ^ 

eovernment and misfortunes her people were never weak-spirited ; they 
have more than once proved themselves as brave as they are industrious 

and honest. 4 _ , . „ a -, 

An instance of this kind happened while Gustavus Adolphus ; of Sweden, 
was waring with the Danes and Norwegians. A company of Scotts, under 
Col Sinclair, having come over to help the Swedes, attempted to pass 
through Norway instead of sailing around to Sweden by way of the Baltic, 
They landed at the Romsdal fjord, and had gone as far as the pass of Krmg- 
len in the vaUey of the Romsdal, when they were stopped. A company o± 
about five hundred Norwegian peasants, headed by Lars Gram, had heard ol 
their coming and stationed themselves on the heights above the pass, 
armed with large stones and logs of wood, and when the unsuspecting 
Scotts were just beneath them these things were hurled down upon 
their heads. Such a sudden and unexpected attack threw the whole 
regiment into confusion, and before they could recover Lars Gram and his 
band rushed down upon them with their swords and only a few of the Scotts 

Anna CoLBJOENSEN.-During the reign of Charles XII., of Sweden, 
trouble broke out between that country and Norway, and Charles sent a 
company of Swedes over to seize the silver mines at Kongsberg But they 
were defeated, and the mines saved by the coolness and forethought ot a 
clergyman's wife, whose name, Anna Colbjornsen, stands beside that o± Lars 
Gram in the history of her country. 

The Swedes reached Nordrehong, in the southern part of Norway, one 
nio-ht lust after the clergyman and his wife had gone to bed. Colonel Loven, 
the leader of the company, came to the house and demanded supper for his 
men and a place in the out-houses for his sleeping quarters. 

The o>ood couple arose to comply with the demand, and as Anna was 
busy preparing the supper she overheard an important conversation between 

the colonel and his men. . 

About three miles away at Stien was quartered a Norwegian general, 
Lutzow, with only a few soldiers, and he was ignorant of the arrival of the 
Swedes The Swedish general proposed that early in the morning they 
sally out and attack Colonel Lutzow. This Anna heard and she prepared 

to prevent it. A 

She showed every possible kindness and attention to her guests, and 

finding that something more was needed for their comfort sent her servant 

girl out to get it, so she told the colonel. But the girl had been bidden to 



74 Persons and Places in Europe. 

go quickly to Stien and tell Colonel Lutzow of the arrival of the Swedes ; 
also that she would light a bonfire when there was a favorable time for an 
attack, and when he saw it he should come quickly and fall upon the intru- 
ders. 

When the Swedish colonel inquired of Anna the road to Stien, she told 
him a wrong one ; when he stationed a boy at the door with a horse all 
ready saddled that he might be able to start at a moment's notice, she made 
the boy tipsy and had the horse locked up in the stable. Then she proposed 
to the colonel to make a fire for the poor fellows who were watching out in 
the cold, and the unsuspecting officer consented. As soon as the Norwegian 
soldiers saw the signal they hurried forward, took Colonel Loven and a 
number of the Swedes prisoners, put the rest to flight, and ate up the supper 
that had been prepared for their enemies. 

In the morning, as soon as it was light, Anna with one of her maids 
went out to look around. The Swedes who had escaped capture still out- 
numbered the Norwegians, and were now gathering together. One of the 
officers pointed his gun at Anna, whom he probably suspected of treachery, 
and seemed about to fire. The maid fainted, but Anna coolly asked the 
officer if the King of Sweden kept his soldiers for the purpose of shooting 
old women. This made the fellow ashamed of himself, so he lowered his gun 
and asked her how many Norwegians there were in Colonel Lutzow' s band. 

" See for yourself," said Anna. " They lie behind the church there as 
thick as sand, and more than I can count." 

The Swedes believed this and took themselves away as fast as they could 
• — many being killed by the Norwegian soldiers or the peasants of the neigh- 
borhood as they were going. 

A Caeeiole Ride. — The people of Norway have many very excellent 
qualities ; in true politeness they are not to be surpassed, they are honest 
and industrious, and even when so poor that they have to put fir-bark in 
the " flad-brod " to make it hold out, will give the best the house affords to 
a stranger and seldom take any pay for their hospitality. 

For this reason Norway is a pleasant country to visit. The traveler is 
sure of being kindly treated and of finding friends whenever he needs them. 

The mode of travel is interesting, and though not so rapid and convenient 
in some respects as our own, it furnishes a good opportunity of seeing the 
country and getting acquainted with the people. 

A number of stations are established along the principal roads by the 
government, and provided with ponies and " carrioles " to be let to travelers. 



Norway. 



75 



The carriole is a small two-wheeled vehicle with a seat for just one person 
inside, and a step on the back for the boy who goes with the traveler from 
one station to the next to bring the carriole and pony back _ 

At a "fast" station a pony and oarriole can be had -within fifteen 
minutes ; but at the slow ones, one must wait sometimes three or four 
hours until a pony is found at a neighboring farm. 

The roads in some places are not always the smoothest, but the beauty 
of the landscapes through which one passes, the bright sunshine glimmering 
throuo-h the trees, the music of the wild waterfall, and the invigorating air 
fanning one's face, as the nimble little pony carries him swiftly along, makes 
up for the unevenness of the road. 

A whole day in some parts of Norway may be passed in a continuous 
panorama of blue sky, bald mountains, dashing waterfalls, green slopes, 
yellow-tinted fields, rich pine forests, and thriving farms. _ _ . 

Sometimes the " skydskarl," or post-boy, proves to be an entertaining 
little fellow, whose kindness, simplicity or precociousness whiles away the 
time when the road proves tedious. 

One traveler gives a pleasing account of his drive with a funny little 
skydskarl, who seemed, he says, to be a fixed laugh all over. _ His mouth, 
nose, ears, eyes, hair and chin was all turned up in a broad grin. Even the 
elbows of his coat and the knees of his trousers were wide open with laugh- 
ter He whistled, sang lively snatches of songs, joked with the horse, and 
when the horse neighed, laughed a regular horse laugh to keep it company. 
When they reached the station the traveler gave the boy an extra shilling 
for his lively spirits, at which he grinned all over wider than ever, put the 
change in his pocket, and with his red cap in one hand made a queer little 
bow with his shaggy head, while he held out the other hand for the 
traveler to shake. Everybody shakes hands in Norway. In one respect 
the Norwegian ' ' skydskarl ' ' is unlike some American boys . He has a very 
tender regard for the little pony that is a great pet in the family and 
always treated kindly. If the traveler drives it too hard or whips it 
unnecessarily the little fellow remonstrates in his strongest Norwegian, and 
if no attention is paid to him he bursts into tears. But when the station is 
reached he reports the. cruel traveler to the keeper, and then the traveler 
finds it difficult to get another pony. 

A Post Giul.— Sometimes a girl is sent with the carriole. The same 
traveler gives an entertaining account of a ride he once took with a very 
lively Norwegian girl. 



76 Persons and Places in Europe. 

When lie was ready to start he looked around for the boy, but instead 
he saw a young girl about sixteen years of age, with her cap and cape on. 
bounding up behind the carriole. She whistled to the horse in a style 
he seemed to understand perfectly well, for away he dashed down the hill 
at a great rate. " I was afraid every moment I should be pitched out and 
rolled down the precipice." 

" Na ! Reise! Reise /" cried this extraordinary girl, and away we 
went over rocks, into ruts, and against roots and bushes ; bouncing spring- 
ing, splashing and dashing through mud holes ; whirling past terrific pits, 
jagged pinnacles of rock and yawning gulfs of darkness ; through gloomy 
patches of pine, out again into open spaces, and along the brinks of fearful 
precipices ; over rickety wooden bridges and through foaming torrents that 
dashed out over the road, the wild girl clinging fast behind, the little pony 
flying along madly in front, the carriole creaking and rattling as if going toJ 
pieces, and myself hanging on to the reins in a perfect agony of doubti 
whether each moment would not be our last. 

Trees whirled by, waterfalls flashed upon my astonished eyes, streaks of I 
sunshine and of gloom dazzled me, and I could see nothing clearly. There; 
was a horrible jumble in my mind of black rocks and blue eyes, pine forests,, 
flying clouds, the roar of torrents and the ringing voice of the maiden as; 
she cried, " Sknyde pa ! s~knyde pa /" (faster, faster.) 

Only one thought was in my mind, the fear of being dashed to pieces 
If I could only stop the pony, but I dared not attempt it. A pull at the; 
reins would throw him upon his haunches, and carriole and all would go 
spinning over him into some horrible abyss. And yet the wild damsel 
whistled and shouted, " sJcnyde pa ! sfcnyde pa ! Riese /" She seized the 
whip and cracked it around the pony's ears until he broke into a frantic 
run, and yet she shrieked, " faster ! faster !" 

By this time I was positively beside myself with terror, I closed my eyes 
and gasped for breath. A fearful bouncing of the carriole made me open 
them again. We had struck a rock and were now spinning along the edge 
of a mighty abyss on one wheel, the other performing a sort of balance in 
the air. I caught sight of a long stretch of level road beyond ! O ! if the 
terrible creature would only stop whistling and cracking her whip, and driv- 
ing the pony crazy with her cries until we reached it ! But the nearer we 
approached to the bottom of the hill the wilder she became. JN T ow she 
actually danced on the little board with delight, now leaning over to get a 
good cut at the pony's tail with her whip while she whistled more fiercely 



Norway. 



77 



than ever and cried, " Flue ! Gaae ! Reise /" The poor little animal was 
reeking with sweat, and it was a miracle that he did not drop down. 

By great good fortune, aided by my skill in driving, we made the turn, 
and in a few minutes were safely jogging along the level road. Quite bewild- 
ered I turned around to see what manner of being this girl was. And if she 
wasn't shaking her sides with laughter at the confusion and astonishment 
she had caused me. 




CHRISTIANIA. 



In a little while the station house was in sight, and here I had to part 
with my lively post girl. I gave her double the usual fee, at which she 
made a very polite courtesy, gave me a hearty shake of the hand, and wished 
me a pleasant journey. 

AFahm-house. — The stations along thecarriole routes are usually at some 
farm-house, which looks more like a village than a country residence, because 
of the numerous sheds and out-houses huddled around it. There are cow- 
sheds, sheep-sheds, pig-styes, chicken-cribs, store-rooms and lodging-houses 



78 



Persons and Places in Europe. 



all huddled around the barn as though that was the centre of attraction. 

And when on top of all these, oats, weeds, flowers, moss or young trees are 

seen growing out of the sod roofs it looks as if the people had made up 

for the loss of the ground their buildings occupy by planting their gardens 

on the roofs of the houses. 

The family room of the place is usually large, as it must needs be to 

accomodate the number of people and the various kinds of work carried on 

there during the long winter evenings. 

The floor is covered with home-made rugs, and a large porcelain stove 

stands in the center of the room reaching nearly to the ceiling. 

When the hay-making season arrives this little village is deserted all 

day, for all hands are needed to gather every spear of grass that can be 
found. The field may lie on the other side of a torrent that must be crossed 
on a rickety bridge, or in a boat ; or it may be at the top of a dizzy cliff that 
must be climbed at the risking of broken limbs ; no matter. A long, cold 
winter is coming when the cattle will need more than can be gathered if 
every spear is brought home. 

Some farm-houses are built upon such high precipices that the path up 
to them is very difficult and dangerous. Stepping places have to be made 
by fixing logs against the face of the cliffs. The small children are " hob- 
bled" to keep them from going too near the dangerous edge. 

• When a death occurs in one of these out-of-the-way houses no hearse 
can be brought to carry the dead away. The body has to be put into a bas- 
ket and carried down the cliff on some one's back. 

The Fishing Grounds .—Compared with other countries Norway has but 
little farm land, the fisheries are the chief dependence of a large proportion 
of the people. Every year, as the season draws near, they leave their homes 
and go to the fishing grounds to stay for several weeks. 

The Loffoden Islands is a favorite resort of the codfish, and about the 
first of February the place begins to swarm with fishermen. The little Lapps 
set up their canvas tents, the log-houses are filled to overflowing, hundreds 
of fishing boats glide about the bays loaded to the water's edge, and numer- 
ous trading vessels arrive to buy fish and sell coffee, sugar, bread, tobacco and 
other things to the fishermen. On the shore are crowds of men and women 
opening and cleaning the fish which are piled in heaps everywhere ; rows of 
fish strung on poles are drying in the sun; barrels of cod-livers are 
standing around, and heads and refuse are heaped everywhere, smelling 
horribly. 



80 



Persons and Places in Europe. 



The fishing grounds are divided into districts, in each of which is a 
Station or headquarter where the boats assemble in the morning before 
starting out. No one is allowed to go before the appointed time, for allmusj 
have an equal chance in the fishing harvest. 

Early in the morning the men come from their huts and take their places 
in the boat, five or six usually in each one. All eyes are then turned toward 
the flag-staff as the men wait with ready oars for the signal. Suddenly the 
flag rises. A thousand oars strike the water, and the boats are pulled 
rapidly away to the place where the fish are caught. In the afternoon they 
come back with their loads, and the fishers tired and hungry hurry in to 
their dinner. They do not mind the fatigue if they have had good luck, 
but some seasons the fish are very scarce. Then all their toil and hardship 
brings but little return, and the poor fishermen go home with heavy hearts 
knowing there will be little bread for the hungry mouths the coming year. 
One of the most profitable part of the cod-fisheries is the manufacture of 
cod-liver oil in which a new process is being used, not so disgusting as the 
old. The livers used to be allowed to stand in a tank and rot until the oil 
rose to the top ; this was skimmed off, and the reeking mass was boiled to 
extract the remainder of the oil. The stench around such an establishment 
was terrible. 

The latest process is to take the fresh livers, sort them carefully, throwing 
away the bad ones, and boil the healthy ones in a large tank after they have 
been washed and drained. The oil thus obtained is of a much better quality 
than that from rotted livers. Herring-fisheries are carried on at Stavanger 
and vicinity, begining on the first of January and lasting about three months, 
with another short season in the early fall. There is not a set time for the 
boats to go out here as in the cod-fisheries, for the herrings travel in large 
shoals. When the watchers see a number of gulls and other sea-birds hover- 
ing over a certain place in the sea they know there is a shoal of herring 
underneath. The signal is quickly given, and the boats go out to cast the 
nets with a great deal of shouting and noise ; it is an exciting time. As 
soon as the " cast" has been made the men begin to take out the fish by 
means of large baskets fastened on poles. Sometimes all of the boats are 
filled and the net has to be held until they can go ashore and empty. As 
many as thirty thousand barrels have been taken at a single catch, and more 
than a million barrels are caught during the season if the fishing is good. 

A Norwegian Dinner Party.— In the winter while the fishermen are 
toiling away with their nets in the cold, the wealthier classes are enjoying 



Norway. 



81 



themselves at dinner parties, which are very fashionable in Norway. ^ Each 
householder makes a big dinner, and invites all of his friends, expecting, of 
course, to be invited by each one of them in return. Those who fail to return 
the compliment he is pretty sure to drop from his list of guests another year. 
The company at a dinner party meet in a large ante-room, says a traveler 
who attended some of these, and stand about, the gentlemen by themselves, 




and the ladies by themselves, all looking very grave and solemn. After 
about an hour the dinner is announced. A few of the oldest gentlemen 
escort some of the oldest ladies, the others go by themselves. If it is a 
" stand-up" party, all stand around the table, plate in one hand and 
knife and fork in the other, and help themselves to whatever they wish. 
There is some crowding and pushing, but every one is good-natured and eats 
and drinks as though that was what he came for. 



82 Persons and Places in Europe. 

And there is enough on the table to keep them all busy for some time,. 
There are hot crab pies, sausages, oyster patties, lobster, cold meats, cold 
sliced fish, raw herrings, old cheese, hot vegetables and " flad-brod." 

When this tableful is exhausted, and while the gentlemen are washing 
the last down with draughts of wine, the ladies withdraw to the desert 
table, where the gentlemen soon follow. This table is loaded with all kinds 
of pastries, ices, jellies, and many other dainty dishes which soon disappear 
before the hearty company. 

The dinner ends with speech-making, very solemn and dignified, and 
then games follow and dancing. The gentlemen do a great deal of smoking, 
and the ladies considerable gossiping, as elsewhere, and then the party 
breaks up, usually at an early hour. 

Before leaving everybody shakes hands with the hostess and thanks her 
for the meal ; to forget to do tnis would be considered very bad manners, 
and an ill-mannered person is seldom found in Norway. The people always 
take off their hats when they meet a friend, or a stranger, when they enter 
a house or even a shop to make a trifling purchase. Common laborers, 
fishermen and private soldiers salute each other with a bow and doff their 
hats, even the children are carefully taught to bow politely to each other in 
the streets. 

Feast Days. — Two great festivals are held every year in Norway ; one 
on St. John's day, the twenty-fourth of June, and the other at Christmas 
time. These feasts have been observed ever since they first originated in 
honor of Odin, Thor, and Frigg; but when the Christian religion was intro- 
duced the honors were changed, while the feasts remained the same. The 
festival now begins by going to church, instead of to the temple of Odin. 

The chief amusement at the spring festival is dancing round the May- 
poles, which are covered with flowers and evergreens, and sometimes with 
colored egg-shells, gilded hearts, and festoons of colored paper. 

The houses are also hung with festoons about the doors and windows, 
the horses and wagons are decorated with evergreens, and even the ships 
in the harbors are decked out with birch boughs. 

But the Yule feast at Christmas time is the favorite holiday season, 
especially among the farmers. Their out-door work is finished then, and 
they have plenty of time for feasting and dancing. Sometimes the merry- 
making is kept up for thirteen days, called " The Thirteen Days of Yule." 

At this time all the old heirlooms of the family are brought out, the old 
pottery, wooden spoons and vessels, and gilded tankards that have descended 



Norway. 



83 



from the old Viking forefathers. Baking and brewing is carried on on a 
large scale in the kitchens for days before the feast begins. The fatted calf 
or sheep is killed, and fish, venison and bird meat brought out from the 
larders where they have been kept in waiting. 

Not the people alone are feasted at this time but the birds and domestic 
animals as well. Two or three days before Christmas, sheaves of oats are 
driven into the towns by the sleigh-loads. Everyone, rich and poor, buy at 




PEASANTS. 



least a bunch to place on their houses, fences, or on along pole for the birds. 
The sight of the little creatures fluttering around these sheaves, filling 
their hungry crops with the grain, warms the hearts of these kindly people 
and prepares them for a heartier enjoyment of their own feast. The old 
horse, the cattle, and even the goats and pigs, are given a double portion of 
food on this day, often more than they can eat. 

A great deal of cleaning is also done on the day before Christmas. The 
floors are scrubbed and strewn with fir or juniper leaves, and when all is 



84 



Persons and Places in Europe. 



finished, every member of the family takes a bath. Sometimes, sad to say, 
it is the only bath they do take in the whole year. 

Much merry-making goes on among the young people during the feast, 
they hide each others shoes, black their faces, dress up in all sorts of 
fantastical clothing, sing songs and dance, and have a much happier time 
than people who have more of the good things of the world, but less good- 
ness of heart. 




TRONDHJEM CATHEDRAL. 



CHAPTER IV. 

DENMARK. 

The low, flat country that rises out of the sea just south of Norway and 
Sweden, forming with them the third Scandinavian country, has received, if 
anything, fewer blessings from the hand of Nature than her sisters to the 
north, and more adversities. She is the victim of blasting fogs, ocean floods 
and desolating storms of wind and sand. But when the sun does come out 
he shines upon many a bright-green meadow, grain covered hill, rich dark 
forest, neatly kept garden and snug little cottage ; and also upon many fine 
old castles filled with the memories and relics of Denmark's former glory. 
For Denmark has had days of glory ; her dominion once extended over the 
whole of Scandinavia, far away Iceland and Greenland, and other islands of 
the sea. But Norway and Sweden have been taken from her, Schleswig- 
Holstein cut off, and now only a little corner of Northwestern Europe is left 
her, the barren peninsula of Jutland and a few islands to the east ; she still 
holds Iceland and Greenland. 

Sands and Sand Dunes.— It would be hard to find a more desolate 
region than the northwestern part of Jutland. Nothing but sand and sea 
and wrecks— marks of the sea' s fury— can be seen for miles . No roads ; the 
smooth sand of the beach, brought in by the ocean at high tide, is driven 
before the wind like snow in winter time, covering everything and making 
high drifts or " dunes." The houses, when there are any, are half hidden by 
sand-hills, and gardens, if any one is venturous enough to make them, are 
in constant danger of being buried or caught up and carried away. 

Whole cornfields planted on top of these treacherous sands have been 
lifted up and whirled away, and whole fields are often buried. 

In late years a kind of reed grass is sown on the dunes, and this taking 
root forms a net- work over the sand that holds it down. In the extreme 
northern part of Jutland once stood the old town of Skagen. Year after 
year the people had to move their houses further inland because of the 



86 



Persons and Places in Europe. 



intruding drifts. In the churchyard the sand gathered as high as the walls, 
then overtopped them and covered the graves and tombstones, and gathered 
against the church until it hid the walls and windows. Still the people did 
not like to give up their house of worship even though they had to shovel 
their way to the door. But one Sunday morning, when they came together 
for worship, they found that an enormous drift entirely blocked up the door; 
to get in was impossible. So the clergyman read a prayer and dismissed 
the people saying, " The Lord" has shut up His house here ; we must build 
one somewhere else." Now nothing but the steeple of the old church is to 
be seen rising above the sand. 

The " Skaw."— Sailors long ago named the northern point of Jutland 
"the Skaw," because of the fierce storms that raged there. Much they 
dreaded coming into that dangerous region where countless numbers of fine 
ships have gone down. For many years the shore was constantly strewn 
with wrecks. The people built their houses of the planks and timbers' cast 
up by the sea. Hans Christian Andersen tells of a shed that had for its 
roof the hull of a boat, and of a great image of Walter Scott, which had 
once been the figure-head of a ship bearing the poet's name, set up to orna- 
ment a fisherman's potato garden. 

A light-house now warns ships off the dangerous coast, and the people 
of Skagen are prepared with the best kind of life-saving apparatus to go to 
the rescue of those in danger of being shipwrecked. 

"Follow us up yonder," says Hans Christian Andersen, "in a storm 
when an ill-fated ship lies fast in the sand out there, and the raging billows 
are breaking over its planks. There is not a bold denizen of the ' Skaw' 
who will not risk his life to save its helpless human freight. Leave your 
room during the pitch-dark night ! The storm is so furious that you cannot 
hear the roaring of the sea ; the wind's terrific blasts meet you as you enter 
the open air; the drifting sand, and clouds of small, sharp stones beat 
against your face. You perceive over you and around you a power which 
seems mighty enough to suck up the sea itself; a thundering noise is burst- 
ing over you and seemingly over the whole world. Climb up to the top of 
the sand hills m that deep gloom. Crawl on during the gusts of wind, and 
when you have gained the top, and when you have become somewhat 
accustomed to the blinding salt spray in your eyes, and the tomb-like dark- 
ness around, glance down on the boiling, foaming sea, and listen to— more 
piercing than the sea-bird's shrillest screams— that harrowing cry for help 
that cry of wild despair. 



88 Persons and Places in JBurope. 

" Suddenly there is a light — a bonfire is kindled — and away out from the 
land a rocket is thrown towards the ship. By the flickering blue light of 
the bonfire they see the stranded vessel, fast imprisoned in the sand ; the 
heavy frothing billows are dashing against it and vaulting over it ; the peo- 
ple on board, in the mortal agony of impending death, are running against 
each other, some holding on by the rigging ; the next tremendous wave 
may sweep them off into the raging sea, and crushing the planks and beams 
scatter them like chips over the shore. 

' ' But helpful hands are near. A line is bound to the rocket that fell over 
the ship ; the line drew out a stronger rope ; a connection was thus formed 
between the land and the wrecked vessel, and by its means every one on 
board is brought safely to the shore." 

The Islands. — There is a wide contrast between the sand banks of Jut- 
land and the fertile islands lying to the east, constituting the most important 
parts of Denmark. Amak, just east of the city of Copenhagen, and connec- 
ted with it by bridges, is called the garden of the city, for here is raised 
nearly everything in the eating line that appears on its tables. 

Bornholm has given to Copenhagen the stones that pave her streets, the 
marble that adorns them, and the clay out of which her famous porcelain is 
made. 

The island of Moen, southeast of Zealand, has been called the " museum 
of northern antiquities," because it contains so many tumuli and cairns and 
other old burial places in which are found quantities of curious vessels, 
weapons, beads, and gold and silver ornaments. They are the work of very 
early races who peopled Scandinavia, and of whom history gives no account. 

This island contains also some of the finest scenery in Denmark ; it 
abounds in pretty lakes, beautiful narrow valleys, and fertile fields out of 
which rise a number of snowy white chalk cliffs. 

Elf-Folk. — On all the islands of Denmark, but especially on Bornholm, 
the people used to believe a great deal in a race of Elf -folk, that they 
thought lived under the ground working at blacksmithing, tin-making and 
other trades, and sometimes appeared to people and helped them out of dif- 
ficulties. 

Once when some Swedish ships of war threatened to attack Bornholm, 
they say that a company of elf soldiers came out of the ground in such 
numbers that the Swedes were frightened and went away. It was also 
declared that on bright moonlight nights these elf soldiers could be seen on 
the hill-sides practising with their arms. As nearly as the observers could 



Denmark. 8 ^ 



see, the soldiers wore light-blue, or steel-gray uniforms and red caps some- 
toes three cornered hats. The sound of their drums could be heard at times, 
and small round stones which they used for bullets could be found on the 
ground. But such stories are now caUed " old wives tales 

Odin's IsLAND.-The island of Fyen, which lies midway between Zealand 
and Jutland, was long regarded as sacred ground by the early Danes. Here 
the great Odin landed, and built the city to which he gave his name. Here 
his temple stood, the Mecca of the rich vikings who brought their plunder 
to the altars of their god, that by his favor they might gam more. 

When Christianity was preached in Denmark, the people of Fyen were 
among the first to embrace it, and here at Odensee was erected the church oi 
St. Knud, Denmark's patron saint. _ . 

Again in the time of the Reformation Fyen was the first to change its 
religion. HanseTausen, a learned citizen of Odensee, became such a leading 
reformer that he was called " the Danish Luting." 

King Gorm and Queen THYRA.-During the early years of Denmark s 
history the country was occupied by a number of petty chiefs, each oi 
which ruled over his own band, and there was no king. But m the time ot 
the Yiking expeditions, in which the Jutes and Danes joined the Swedes 
and Norwegians, Gorm, one of the Danish chiefs, made himself king ^ He 
remained at home one year when the others sailed away, and after they were 
gone, Mlupon their provinces, conquered them, and w ^f hec ^ iefs "^ 
he was ruler of the whole of Denmark. They must have thought when 
they found their estates had been seized that the tables had been turned 
npon them, and that " viking " sometimes worked both ways 

After he had established himself as king of the country, Gorm went off 
on a sea-voyage again, and during his absence the Franks on the south kept 
i making trouble about the boundary line between his dominion and theirs. 
Finally Queen Thyra, Gorm's wife, sent word to aU the chieftain. ; of Den- 
mark that she wished to see them, and when they were assembled she talked 
to them about the trouble with the Franks, and asked each one to state 
before the others what he would give toward building a wall along the south- 
ern boundary for a defence. AU the chiefs gave bountifully and oheerftdly 
toward the object, and when Gorm returned he found a line of earth-works 
ten miles long built up between his kingdom and that of ^™^™ 
neighbors. This line served for a long time as a barrier against the Jnanks. 
Queen Thyra has always been held in grateful remembrance by the 
Danes for this, and many other wise deeds. They gave her the name ot 



90 Persons and Places in Europe. 

Danebod "the people's pride." It was she that first brought Christianity 
into the country from France, where she had been baptized. She invited 
Christian missionaries into Denmark to preach to her pagan subjects, and 
she had her son Harold baptized into the new faith. Afterward he became 
the first Christian king of Denmark. 

In the southeastern part of Jutland near the Vezle Fjord stand two 
monuments bearing the names of King Gform and Queen Thyra. On one is 
written in runic writing : 

" King Grorm constructed this barrow to his wife Thyra Danmarksbod ;" 
on the other, " King Harold caused this barrow to be made to his father 
Gorm and his mother Thyra ; the same Harold who acquired all Denmark 
and Norway and Christianity as well." 

Roskilde Cathedral. — On the island of Zealand, not far from Copen- 
hagen, stands the famous cathedral of Roskilde, where all the kings of Den- 
mark have been buried sinc| Harold Blatand, the son of Queen Thyra, built 
here the first Christian church in honor of the new religion he had embraced. 
It was built almost within sight and sound of the great temple of Odin, at 
Ledre, where every seven or nine years the blood of human sacrifice flowed 
over the pagan altars. 

The church that Harold erected was only a wooden one. About a hundred 
years afterward a handsome stone building was built in its place by Svend 
Estrisden, a nephew of Canute the Great. The interior of the cathedral has 
remained nearly the same from that day to this ; but each passing century has 
added something to its furnishings . There are altar pieces made for it in the 
thirteenth century, carved seats of the fourteenth, a curious piece of clock 
work of the fifteenth, a grand organ, the finest in Scandinavia, of the six- 
teenth, and a splendid pulpit, font and pew of the seventeenth century. 

In the great vault of the cathedral stand side by side the coffins of the 
kings. A hundred gorgeous caskets rich in silver and gold and curious 
workmanship is all that remains of the great Harolds, the Canutes, the 
Valdemars, the Christians and the Fredericks, who once swayed the sceptre 
of Denmark. 

The Valdemars. — Three of the early and most powerful kings of Den- 
mark bore the name of Valdemar. The first won the title of " the Great," 
by making seventeen successful wars upon the Pagans of the South, and 
by clearing the northern seas of the Wendish pirates that were treating the 
Danish coasts as the Danes had treated those of England and France a few 
years before. 



Denmark. 91 

Valdemar II. was as successful a warrior as his father, and the title " the 
Victorious " was given to him. During his reign Norway, Sweden and the 
northern part of Germany belonged to Denmark. Her ships ruled the 
waves ; her warriors conquered wherever they fought. This has been caUed 
her " Golden Age." 

It was at this time, while Valdemar was fighting with the Wends, that 
Denmark received, so the story goes, her national ensign, the red banner 
bearing a white cross. While the battle was raging, and just as the Danes, 
after a long day's fight, were beginning to give way before the Wends, this 
banner feU from the skies. The sight of the emblem of their faith— the 
cross _ gaV e to the Danes new strength while the pagans fell back frightened 
at the strange appearance. Before another day dawned, this banner, which 
they named the " Dannebrog " waved over the heads of thousands of 
Wendish converts. 

Queen Dagmar's Cross.— In the Museum of Northern Antiquities at 
Copenhagen is a curious old cross that is held in almost as much veneration 
as the national flag. It is called " Queen Dagmar's Cross." 

Queen Dagmar was the wife of Valdemar II., who, before her marriage, 
was a Bohemian Princess. He reputation for beauty and goodness reached 
the ears of king Valdemar and he sent for her to make her his wife. 

She began to be a blessing to Denmark as soon as she entered the coun- 
try. She obtained from the king the release of the good bishop of Waldemar, 
who had been imprisoned for eighteen years . She requested also the release 
of all captives, and that the plow-rent should no longer be collected from the 
poor. This the king was at first unwilling to grant, but when she told him 
that she would go back to her father if he did not do it he consented. 

After this Queen Dagmar was the idol of the people. Her praises were on 
every lip, and the blessings of the peasants followed her wherever she went. 
The cross which is kept as a national memorial of this queen is about 
an inch and a quarter long, and one inch wide. It bears on one side the figure 
of the Saviour, on the other five medallions, the heads of the Virgin Mary, 
St. Basil, and the two St. Johns. The figures are aU of most excellent work- 
manship in gold and enamel, and so fine and clear that the print of the 
nails in the palms of the Saviour's hands can be plainly seen. The complex- 
ion of the face is clear and transparent, and the hair and beard as natural as 
life. On each side of the body under the outstretched arms are two en- 
amelled scrolls, and above the head a blue enamelled circle bordered with 
purple and gold. A very fine imitation of Queen Dagmar's cross was made 



Persons and Places in Europe. 






for the Princess Alexandria, daughter of Christian IX., when she was mar 
ried to the Prince of Wales, and is valued as one of her most cherished 
treasures. 

Goose Towee.— In the southern part of the island of Zealand, at Yor- 
dingborg, stands the ruins of an old castle built by Valdemar the Great. 
Both he and his son died there, and there a hundred years later their name- 
sake, Yaldemar III., dwelt for a time. 

This Yaldemar left his mark upon one of the towers of the castle in the 
shape of a golden goose which he had made to commemorate a joke that he 
once played upon some members of the Hanseatic league when they came 
to visit him. 

This league was a union of large commercial cities on the Baltic, which 
grew to be so powerful that they could compel the surrounding kings to do 
about as they pleased— all but Yaldemar. He paid no attention to the 
league or its demands, so a delegate from each of the seventy-seven cities 
composing the league was sent to Yaldemar' s castle to remonstrate with 
him. Having heard that Denmark was a very cold country they came well 
provided with plenty of warm clothing, furs and blankets. When Yalde- 
mar heard of this, he said, " Now we will have some fun." 

He commanded that the guests should be received in the large banquet- 
ing hall, and that roaring fires should be built in . every stove in the 
room. 

When the guests arrived they were politely conducted into the hall 
where a feast was spread and the doors were locked. And here in this hot 
room they were kept all night in their heavy fur coats and blanket trousers, 
with the perspiration streaming from every pore, while the king and his 
courtiers were as cool as cucumbers. 

^ In the morning Yaldemar sent them away with the assurance that he 
did not care a fig for the Hanseatic towns nor anything they could do. In 
memory of his good joke upon these " fat geese," as he caUed his Hansea- 
tic visitors, he had a golden goose put upon one of the towers of the castle. 
The tower, which was afterwards called the " goose tower," is still stand- 
ing, though most of the castle is in ruins. 

The Hunting Grounds of Guere.— In the eastern part of Zealand lies 
a famous hunting ground of Gurre, where according to the belief of some 
simple country folks, King Yaldemar rides every night with his hounds. 
The reason for this curious behavior of the rather queer old king is that he 
once said that if the Lord would give him Gurre wood he did not care for 



Denmark. 93 

Heaven. And now, they say, he is receiving his punishment for his blasphe- 
mous wish, by being compelled to ride there every night. 

During the festival of St. John's eve some of the old women have a 
custom of going out to open the gates for King Valdemar. But if they hear 
him coming, hear the cracking of whips, the shouting of the huntsmen, and 
the yelping of the dogs they must get out of the way, they say, for some- 
times King Yaldemar stops and asks them to hold his dogs for an hour. 
He always pays well for the service, but the coin is so hot, showing what 
torment he endures, that it will burn a hole through one's hand if one takes 
it. But if allowed to lie on the ground until it is cool it will be found to be 

pure gold. ... 

The way King Yaldemar came to be so much attached to Gurre wood is 

accounted for as follows : . t ,, 

There was a very lovely lady in Denmark named Loveldle, whom the 
king liked very much, and when she died his sorrow was so great that he 
could not quit her corpse, bub had it carried about with him wherever he 
went This caused so much inconvenience to those about him that one ot 
his courtiers tried to find out what it was that so attracted the king to the 
dead body. He found an enchanted ring upon the finger of the corpse, 
which he took off and put upon his own hand. 

Immediately the king showed no further regard for the body of Love- 
line, but became greatly attached to this courtier. Nothing was too good 
for him, and the king could not bear him out of his sight a moment 

At first the courtier enjoyed his great privileges, but after a while he 
began to grow tired of so much very particular attention, and knowing that 
the ring was the cause of it, he determined to throw it away. So one day as 
he was riding through Gurre wood he tossed the ring into a thicket. From 
that time there was nothing that King Yaldemar enjoyed so much as hunt- 
ing in Gurre wood. He built him a castle there, and spent nearly all of his 
time in the forest, having no desire for anything better. 

The Semiramus of the Noeth.— One day as Yaldemar III. was out rid- 
ing he saw a beautiful little brown-eyed girl weaving a garland of flowers. 
He was so pleased with her that he placed her on his horse and said, M ow 
where shall we ride ?" . 

"To the castle," she replied, "where that wicked old king keeps my 
mother a prisoner." By this Yaldemar knew that the child was his own 
daughter whose mother he had kept shut up in a castle for years because 
she had displeased him. He had never permitted the child to be brought 



94 



Persons and Places in Europe. 



near him before, but now he was so pleased with her that he had her sent to 
Copenhagen and educated. 

When she was ten years of age she was married to the king of Norway 
Her son, Olaf , inherited the throne of both Norway and Denmark, but died 
at an early age. The councillors of Denmark then chose Margaret as the 
" all-powerful lord and master of Denmark." and a year afterward the Nor- 
wegians chose her for their " king and ruler." 

Their elections did not please Albert, king of Sweden, who had been plan- 
ning to have the crowns of Denmark and Norway conferred upon himself 
But he ruled his own country so poorly that the Swede's desired Margaret 
to come and be their ruler. She accepted the invitation at once and raised 
an army to assist in dethroning Albert, he of course opposed this with all 
the forces he could muster, and to show his contempt for a woman warrior 
sent her a whetstone with the message that she would do well to sharpen her 
needles and leave swords to men. The taunt cost him dear, for when soon 
after this Margaret's forces conquered, and Albert was taken prisoner, she 
ordered him to be brought to her in a woman's gown and a fool's cap, " since 
he had not known how to light in men's attire." 

Margaret governed the three kingdoms so well that the people lived 
peacefully together, and a few years later she was able to unite the three 
countries m one government by what was called the Kalmar union which 
lasted for many years, but which was the cause in after years of much 
fighting and bloodshed. It was the « Blood Bath " in Sweden that put an 
end to this union. 

The Horn of Oldenborg.— During the sixteenth and seventeenth cen- 
turies the kings of Denmark spent a great deal of time and money in 
building fine castles. Many of these now serve as museums in which are 
collected the interesting relics of other days, and are the scenes of numer- 
ous stories concerning the kings, queens and princes who once held their 
gay courts within the walls. One of these castles stands in the center of 
the city of Copenhagen, though when it was built bv Christian IV for a 
summer residence it stood outside. The city did not extend as far then as 



now. 



In this fine old building are to be seen many interesting relics, the prop- 
erty of former kings and queens, and among them a magnificent silver drink- 
ing horn, ornamented with pearl, ruby, emerald, amethyst and o- ld 1 
very wonderful legend has often been told about the way this horn came 
into the possession of Count Otto of Oldenborg many years ago 



Denmark. 



95 



One day as the count was out hunting he became separated from his 
companions and wandered off into an unfrequented path. The weather was 
very hot, and the King, reigning in his horse, sighed for a drink of cold 
water He had scarcely ended his wish when the side of the mountain 
opened and a beautiful maiden with long golden hair stood before him. 

The count had seen many beautiful women, but the loveliness of this one 
completely bewildered him. She wore a crown of gold upon her head, a 




CRONBERG CASTLE. 

light gossamer robe that f eU gracefully about her, and a wreath of beautiful 

flowers. A 

While the count was wondering at her marvelous beauty she stepped. 
toward him and held out a silver horn saying, in a voice that sounded 
sweeter than the strains of a iEoliaft harp, " Drink of this Count Otto then 
fortune shaU favor thee and the whole house of Oldenborg. But if thou 
refuse to empty this horn, dissentions and misfortune shaU befall thy house 
and evil shall betide thy race." 



06 Persons and Places in Europe. 

The count placed the horn to his lips intending to obey the maiden, but 
as soon as he tasted the liquid with which it was filled he discovered 'thai 
it was intensely bitter and had a poisonous odor. 

His admiration for the beautiful maiden was at once turned to disgust 
and he dashed the liquid upon the ground. As he did so a drop fell upon 
his horse's hair and singed it in an instant. 

When the maiden saw what he did, she commanded him to return the] 
horn at once, but with a polite bow he said, "What has once been given to 
me must never be taken away." 

With this he spurred up his horse and soon overtook his companions.! 
The horn was always kept by the house of Oldenborg until it was brought! 
to Copenhagen and placed in Rosenborg Castle. 

Cronborg Castle.— At the northeastern extremity of the island of Zea- 
land, near the town of Elsinore, stands the famous castle of Cronborg, 
around which a number of interesting stories and legends centre. It was 
built by Frederick II., the father of Christian IV., for a fortress to guard 
the entrance to the Sound, but in form it has the elegance and grandeur of : 
a palace. For many years all vessels passing through the Sound were' 
obliged to stop and pay toll at Cronborg Castle,which the Danes claimed as 
their pay for keeping up the lighthouse. This privilege has now been taken 
away from her, and the United States was one of the first countries that 
objected to paying the " Sound dues." 

Cronborg Castle is noted especially as the place where Queen Matilda, 
sister of George III., of England, and wife of Christian VII., of Denmark' 
was for a long time imprisoned. 

Her husband's mother, the Queen dowager of Denmark, being 
anxious to secure the throne for her son Frederick, sought to make trouble 
between Queen Matilda and the King. Her opportunity came on a night in 
June, when a masked ball was given at the palace, and all the youth and 
beauty of Copenhagen were present. The King, throwing aside the gloomy 
look he usually wore, had danced a rustic country dance with the Queen 
before retiring, and she, after remaining a while longer, went also to her 
room. 

^ About four o'clock in the morning the Queen dowager and her son Fred- 
erick entered the King's sleeping room,*woke him and told him that the 
Queen and Count Struensee, the Prime Minister, were planning to take the 
kingdom away from him and that he must at once sign the papers which 
they had brought with them for the arrest of the guilty couple . 



Denmark. 



97 



The King refused at first to do this, but being very weak-minded yielded 
at last to his mother and signed the warrant, in tears, it is said. Officers 
were sent at once to take the Queen. 

She was hurried into one of the King's carriages and driven with all haste 
to Cronborg Castle, where she was kept a close prisoner until her brother 
in England heard of it and sent a fleet to release her and take her to Ger- 
many. In about a year after her release she died of grief. 

Since Shakespeare's great tragedy of Hamlet came into existence, Cron- 




ELSINORE 



borg Castle has been a place of interest to all English speaking people as the 
scene of the tradition upon which the play was founded. Outside of the 
castle walls "Hamlet's garden" is still pointed out as the place where 
the ghost is supposed to have appeared to tell Hamlet of his uncle's crime. 
Holgek the Dane. — One of the several legends connected with Cronborg 
Castle is about Holger, the favorite Danish hero, who is said to be sleeping 
in one of the holds of the castle, waiting for the time when the Fatherland 
shall stand in sorest need of his strong arm. " Poor Denmark !" says one, 



11 

■ 



98 Persons and Places in Europe. 

" if yet worse straits are to come upon her than those which have come an 
have failed to rouse her sleeping hero." 

It is said that a slave who had forfeited his life was promised his liberty 
if he would go down into the holds of the castle and find out the cause o| 
the strange noises that sometimes came from those dim regions. Others 
had attempted to do this but were either frightened back or were never seen 
again alive. 

This slave, more brave than the others, went on down through dungeo 
after dungeon until he came to one in the centre of which was a large table, 
above it a lamp burning dimly, and around it a number of iron-clad warriors* 
asleep. 

As the slave entered, the largest and strongest of the warriors — which j 
was Holger, the Dane — rose and holding out his hand, said, "It is well,, 
there are yet men in Denmark." 

The slave was afraid to give his hand to the warrior, so he held out ai 
bar of iron that stood by the door. Holger, who had not known the grasp j 
of a friendly hand for centuries did not perceive the difference and grasped I 
the iron with such fervor that he left upon it the prints of his fingers. 

The slave carried the bar up from the dungeons, showed the prints off 
Holger' s fingers, related his story and received his freedom. 

The Castle of the Heavens. — On the little island of Hveen, in the3 
Sound just east of Zealand, once stood the castle of the great Danish 1 
astronomer, Tycho Brahe. The King, Frederick II., became interested in 
him when he was quite a young man and used to go to hear him lecture at 
Copenhagen on his theory of comets, and after awhile made him a present! 
of this island, gave him the money to build him an observatory and settled I 
a pension upon him for the rest of his life, so that he need do nothing but 
study the stars. 

The astronomer built his house in a very queer style, something like the 
old feudal castles, and something like the abode of an eastern magician. 
On the top he put a great observatory like which nothing had ever been 
seen in Europe. It was a great curiosity to the simple people around, who 
wondered at his queer ways, his plebeian wife, his pet poodle, his golden 
nose, which he wore to replace his own that he lost in a duel, but most of 
all they wondered why he should stay in that great tower all night peering 
at the stars. 

But the result of his midnight vigils, when published to the world, made 
his place become noted all over Europe. Scholars, princes and kings came 



Denmark. 99 

to visit him. Among them was James VI. of Scotland, who afterward 
became James I. of England. Keplar, the great German astronomer, came 
also and studied with him, and from the observations which Tycho Brahe 
made discovered the great laws that made his own name famous. 

But the death of his patron Frederick II., put an end to Tycho Brahe' s 
good fortune. His pension was stopped, his pet poodle was cuffed by the 
Prime Minister, and he left Denmark in disgust. His nephew pulled down 
his " Castle of the Heavens," and used the material for building his stables. 
But later, when the value of the old astronomer's observations became known, 
his countrymen all united in honoring his memory. 

In the year 1846, the three hundredth anniversary of his birthday, eight 
thousand people from Denmark, Norway and Sweden met on the site of 
his old observatory and raised there a collossal bust of the great astronomer, 
while the flags of the three countries waved in his honor from the masts of 
the fleet that carried the people thither. 

The Palace of Art.— There is one palace in Copenhagen which every 
Dane looks upon as belonging in part to himself. It is the museum that 
contains the works of Denmark's great sculptor — Thorwaldsen. All of his 
great statues, the Christ, the Baptismal Angel and the Apostles, his char- 
acters from Greek mythology and Odin's legends, together with his numer- 
ous busts, reliefs, and friezes are here collected. 

In one room is a bust of Luther which the sculptor was at work upon 
the day he died. Near it is an old-fashioned clock, which stopped, it is said, 
; of itself when its master breathed his last. In another room is the furniture 
that he used, his bed, sofa and chairs just as he left them. 

In an open court in the centre of the Museum is the great sculptor's grave, 
in the spot that he selected during his life as his last resting place. An 
ebony cross on the top of his grave bears his name, the date of his birth and 
of his death. Around it is twined vines of ivy, and upon the blue walls of 
the court are painted roses and lilies, the flowers that he loved. Above,' the 
sky forms the only ceiling, and the birds and the clouds sail over the tomb 
of him who loved to look upon them when alive. 

Bertel Thorwaldsen was an Icelander by birth, the son of a poor wood 
carver. At eleven years of age he entered the free Academy of Arts at 
Copenhagen. At seventeen he took the silver medal of the academy, at 
twenty a gold medal, and at twenty- three a grand prize that enabled him to 
go to Rome and study sculpture among the great masters. 

There nobody took much notice of the quiet young sculptor until, one 



100 Persons and Places in Europe. 

day, just as lie was beginning to grow discouraged, and "was thinking o 
returning to Denmark, an English gentleman came in and was so muc 
pleased with a figure, " Jason bearing the Golden Fleece," that he orders 
one made like it in marble. 

" What is your price ?" he asked of the sculptor. 

" Six hundred sequins," Thorwaldsen replied. 

" It is not enough, I will give you eight hundred," the gentleman said, 
and asked to have it begun at once. 

Orders soon began to come in from all over Europe. His King, Christian 
VII., desired him to come home and complete the improvements he was 
making in Christianborg Palace, but this he was now too busy to undertake. 

Like all great geniuses his art completely absorbed his thoughts. Hans 
Christian Andersen, who was a great admirer of Thorwaldsen, tells the 
following story illustrating this : 

One day he called on Thorwaldsen who was at work, chisel in hand, on a 
bust of the great story-teller himself. Mr. Andersen wished him good morn- 
ing, but the sculptor made no reply, and after waiting a few minutes the 
visitor thinking that he was perhaps disturbing the sculptor went out. 
Thorwaldsen who had not heard him leave, but had been conscious of his 
presence, began presently to talk to him in his liveliest manner, but without 
taking his eyes off his work. 

He told a long story about himself and Lord Byron, and when he had fin- 
ished, thought it strange that Andersen should not say a word in reply. 

Turning around he discovered that he had been talking a whole hour to 
bare walls. 

Thorwaldsen modeled a statue of Lord Byron, and another of Sir Walter 
■Scott, from the originals themselves. With Lord Byron he did not get 
along very well, for the poet would insist on being made to look melancholy, 
and this the sculptor said was not his natural expression. But he and Sir 
Walter Scott became fast friends, though neither could understand a word 
of the other' s language. They expressed their mutual sympathy and admira- 
tion by smiling, embracing, and patting each other on the shoulder, but not 
n word could either say that the other could understand. 



CHAPTER V. 



ENGLAND. 

England, the mistress of the sea, the owner of territory so vast that the 
snn never sets on her dominions, occupies but a very small space on the 
Continent of Europe. England and Wales together contain only a few more 
square miles than the state of Georgia ; but the English people, combining 
the bravery of their Saxon forefathers with the covetousness of the Norman 




s^^^ 



INVASION OF BRITAIN BY JULIUS CJESAR. 



vikings, have conquered and held a large proportion of the Earth's surface. 
And being early compelled, by their not very friendly climate, to form habits 
of industry and frugality, they have become a race of manufacturers, of 
wealthy traders, statesmen, scholars, men of letters, masters of art and 
learning in every branch. 



102 Persons and Places in Europe. 

England is now at the height of her prosperity ; her coffers are full of gold, 
her picturesque hills and valleys are covered with stately mansions, palaces 
and churches. Will the time ever come when she must point back to 
these for evidence of her former greatness, as Ireland is doing to-day, and 
will it come to pass that some other country shall declare the English incap- 
able of governing themselves, and refuse them a parliament at London % 
History repeats itself, they say. 

Lost in a Fog. — The marshes of northwestern Europe, give rise to extra 
quantities of moisture about the shores of the North Sea. Rain or fog is the 
usual state of the weather. Between the fog, and the smoke of her manu- 
factories, England, and especially London, enjoys but a small share of sun- 
shine. The average number of clear days at Greenwich observatory is only 
twenty-two in a whole year. 

There are times, out in the country, when a fog looks quite beautiful as 
it comes winding along through the valleys like a milk white river, or flat- 
tens out clear and silvery, like a lake. But in a double sense the going off 
of a fog is the most pleasing part of it, especially when it lifts itself suddenly 
and reveals unexpected surroundings. Where a moment before nothing 
could be seen but dense smoky vaper shutting in ones view to a few feet in 
each direction, now a great stretch of mountain wood, plain, river and lake 
bursts out suddenly as if by magic. An unfortunate sportsman, caught in 
a fog once, had a fine chance of noticing all these appearances and also some 
curious effects upon himself. 

Having promised to meet some friends in Princetown at five o'clock, he 
shut up his rod as the hour drew nigh, and prepared to cross the moor. The 
idea occurred to him that before he could gain the other side of the hill 
towards Princetown he might be caught in a fog, but with a carelessness, 
that he afterward regretted, he determined to run the risk. Up the mountain 
therefore he started, but he had scarcely gone a quarter of a mile when a 
cloud, dense, and dark, and flaky fell instantly about him. So sudden was 
its descent that he was completely startled. On every side appeared whirl- 
ing masses of mist, so thick that it effected his breathing. He paused, but 
still thinking that he could not err in following a straight line over the hill 
he went on. At last he saw through the mist some of the immense pieces 
of granite that he knew to be strewed about the summit. Their appearance 
through the fog was wonderfully grand, wavy, and fantastic, while some 
sheep, a few yards away, looked like distorted moving masses, many times 
larger than they really were. Every now and then one would start out from 



England. 



103 



;he side of a block of granite with, a screaming bleat, as if it too was filled 
vith surprise and awe at its strange surroundings. Above, beneath, and all 
.wound was a flaky mass, and at times even a rushing white fog of no color 
[hat could be named, a sombre whiteness, a light that was darkness. 

As he went onward, now among massive fragments of granite, now 
among bogs and rushes, he became impatient to catch sight of some familiar 
object^ he quickened his pace ; but the further he proceeded the more did 




DOVER, FROM THE SEA. 



the fog bewilder him. 



His eyesight became affected ; his brain began to 
whirl, ^ill at last he sat down utterly unable to walk another step. 

His situation was now painful. The evening was drawing on, and the 
fog increasing in murkiness, all hopes that it would clear away had vanished. 
He was chilled and shivering. Noticing the boggy nature of the ground 
where he was now traveling, he concluded he had gone north instead of 
south, and therefore turned directly to the left, and went swiftly forward. 
The ground began to incline. He was descending a hill, and heard the dis- 



104 Persons and Places in Europe. 

tant rushing of water ; after stopping to calculate where it could be, he 
pressed onward, when suddenly, so suddenly that he could compare it to 
nothing but the lifting of a veil, the fog rushed from him and the scene he 
beheld made him almost doubt his senses. At his right, within two or three 
hundred yards, was the very spot he had quitted when he put up his rod. 
He had toiled up and across the mountain, and then back again to the very 
spot from whence he had thought himself all the while going. 

In an instant the fog was back again, but the sportsman had learned a 
lesson by experience. This time he followed the stream, and in a little while 
reached his destination in safety. 

The Chalk Cliffs. — Rising out of the fog and the sea, the first object to 
be seen as one approaches England from the south, are the tall white chalk 
cliffs, whose glittering tops, when lit up by the morning sun, dazzle the 
eye with their brilliancy. It was these shining white cliffs, very likely, that 
first attracted the attention of the old Phoenician voyagers ages ago, and 
led to the trade in tin, which brought wealth and civilization to the shores 
of ancient Britain. 

The chalk forming these cliffs is very dry and soft, and full of small flint 
stones worn smooth like pebbles. Some one has called the cliffs English 
plum puddings, the chalk, answering for flour, and the pebbles for plums. 

To the east of the line, overlooking the strait of Dover, is a tall cliff, from 
the top of which rises an old castle with its ancient watch tower still keep- 
ing guard over the straits. It is supposed that Julius Ca3sar ordered the 
building of this ancient castle, and ever since the place has been used as a 
fortress. To-day the white cliffs bristle with black cannon, and are full of 
soldiers barracks, apartments and galleries, which have been cut into the 
soft stone. Among the guns is a great iron twelve pounder, twenty-four 
feet long, which the states of Holland presented to Queen Elizabeth. 

One of the Dover cliffs, which used to hang over the water, but is now 
broken off, is called Shakspeare's Cliff, because it corresponds to a description 
he gives in " King Lear." From here, in clear weather, one can see the far 
away coast of France, with the straits between filled with sailing vessels. 

Toppling Rocks. — On account of the softness of the chalky rocks along 
the southern coast, they have been worn into many curious shapes by the 
washing of the waves. The Isle of Wight, which is almost entirely of chalk 
formation, ends in a long tapering point on the west, and from the extrem- 
ity the sea has split huge perpendicular slices. These tall, pointed rocks 
have been named " the needles," though somebody says they look more like 



England. 



105 



thimbles than needles. Once there was one which had a very sharp point, 
and that probably suggested the name of needle, bnt it fell some time ago, 
worn away by the waves. Others are growing thin and it is quite probable 
that they too will fall some day, and their place be taken by new ones split 
off from the wedge-shaped extremity of the isle. 

Another curious rock in this vicinity is called the cheesewring, because 




SNOWDON. 

of its resemblance in shape to an old-fashioned cheesepress. The five up- 
per stones are so much broader than the three supporting ones, that 
people have long wondered how it could stand, especially when fierce storms 
swept over it. 

Another toppling rock once stood off the coast of Sidmouth, called^ the 
Chit Rock. Here every year the fishermen used to come and hold a festival, 



106 Persons and Places in Europe. 

during which the oldest man among them was taken to the top and crowned 
"King of Chit Rock." One dark November night a fierce storm raged 
along the coast, and in the morning when the people looked out toward the 
channel, Chit Rock was gone. 

Such changes are constantly going on along the coasts of England, and 
have been for ages. The chalk and limestone cliffs on the south and west 
are being worn down ; the rocky headlands on the east are slowly being 
washed away by the strong Atlantic currents, while the sandy shore south 
of kl the wash " is receiving constant additions. 

Wild Wales. — England proper is not a mountainous country. The 
highest regions are the Cheviot hills and the Pennine range in the north, 
both abounding in many picturesque hills and valleys ; but over in Wales 
are the wild, rugged Cambrian mountains, whose high peaks overlook all 
England. From the top of Mount Snowdon, on a clear day, one can see 
nearly all of the four united countries, and all around its feet lie the beau- 
tiful mountains and valleys that attract hundreds of visitors every year. 

Among these rugged hills the ancient Britons fled for refuge from the 
Saxons, and many years went by before they submitted to be ruled by the 
English kings. Here Owen Cflendwyr, the last native prince of Wales, lived 
in his palace of Sycharth, and kept open house for years. His doors were 
never locked nor barred. Everybody was free to come and go when he 
liked, and help himself to whatever he needed while he stayed. 

The wardrobe as well as the larder was kept supplied for the use of 
guests. A perfect stranger could clothe himself from head to foot, eat and 
rest a month, if he liked, and then go on his way with nothing to pay but 
thanks. 

But this same Owen was a troublesome enemy to the king of England, 
who had roused the hatred of the Prince by attempting to deprive him of 
his estate, and a bitter war was kept up during all the later years of Owen's 
life. Some of the scenes in Shakspeare's play of Henry IV. are founded 
on this war ; but the Owen Glendwyr of the play does not properly repre- 
sent the real Owen. 

At one time the Welsh forces, joined by the Percy's of England, who 
were dissatisfied with Henry IV.., marched as far as Worcester, and threat- 
ened the capital ; but they were driven back, and the brave chieftain was 
obliged to spend the last years of his life hiding among the glens and caves 
of his native mountains. 

About a hundred years before Owen's insurrection, the Welsh had been 



England. 107 

brought by a kind of stratagem, to recognize the young son of Edward I. as 
their prince. They had long declared that they would own allegiance to no 
prince born outside of Wales, and Edward had told them that he would 
appoint a person born in their own country, who could not speak a word of 
English. Such a person they consented to receive as their sovereign. But 
when they had assembled at Carnarvon castle, where Edward was then stay- 
ing, he brought out to them his infant son, who had been born in the castle, 
and of course could not speak a word of English. Holding him up before 
them, Edward said in "Welsh, " Eicli dyn" that is, " This is your man." 
Ever since the eldest son of the English sovereign has been prince of Wales. 

Beddgelert. — Edward II. was born just a short time after the death of 
Llewelyn the Great, grandfather of Owen Glendwyr. This prince had freed 
Wales entirely from the English, and been acknowledged by Henry III. as 
an independent ruler, but when Edward I. came to the throne he demanded 
Llewelyn's submission. Again war broke out, and though the Welsh were 
defeated, they continued in rebellion until Llewelyn was killed, — not in bat- 
tle, but in single combat with an English knight. 

It is of this prince that the story is told which gave rise to Spencer's 
noted poem of "Llewelyn and his Dog." During the struggle with Ed- 
ward, Llewelyn was encamped at one time in a little valley not far from 
Carnarvon Castle, and one day he went out to hunt with his men, leav- 
ing his infant son inside the tent in charge of Gelert, his faithful hound. 

While he was absent, a wolf came out of the forest, entered the tent and 
would have devoured the child had it not been for the dog, who sprang 
upon him and began a fierce struggle, during which the tent was overturned 
and every thing besmeared with blood. When Llewelyn came back and saw 
the tent overturned, blood everywhere, even on the dogs mouth, and his 
child nowhere to be seen, he supposed Gelert had devoured him, and in a 
great rage he thrust the faithful dog through with his sword. But scarcely 
had he done so when he heard a cry, and hastily overturning the canvas 
from whence the sound came, found his boy safe in his cradle, but close 
beside him the torn and mangled body of a great wolf. 

The reason for all the blood was then very clear, and Llewelyn, shedding 
tears of repentance, hastened back to his dying dog. Poor Gelert was not 
quite dead, and with his last strength tried to lick his master's hand. 

Llewelyn raised a fine monument over the grave of his faithful dog, and 
to this day the place is called " Beddgelert," — the grave of Gelert. 

The Druid's Retreat. — Wales was the last stronghold of the ancient 



108 Persons and Places in Europe. 

Druids, who were found all over Britain when the Romans came, and whose 
horrid ceremonies are described by Caesar and the Welsh bards. They 
retreated from before the Roman conquerors into Wales, and then into the 
farthest corner of Wales, the island of Anglesia. Here they were left for a 
while to themselves. Here the priests continued to walk in their flowing 
white robes through the sacred groves of oak, to talk of the signs they read 
in the stars, and in the flight of birds ; to practice medicine, after their super- 
stitious fashion ; and to teach the young men who resorted to them the 
mysticism of their creed, their dark sayings, and their verses which it took 
twenty years to learn. 

At certain seasons of the year they gathered the sacred mistletoe from 
the branches of the no less sacred oak. When a branch of this plant was 
discovered, the Druids assembled in crowds fiom far and near beneath the 
tree. A great banquet was prepared, and the arch-druid clothed in his white 
vestments, cut the sacred twig with a golden sickle, while two other priests 
caught it in a white cloak as it fell. Immediately two milk white heifers 
were offered as a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and the rest of the day was spent 
in great rejoicing. 

Other plants beside the mistletoe were held in high esteem : the marsh- 
wort which they plucked with the left hand after fasting, and without look- 
ing at it ; and the hedge hyssop which they gathered barefooted, and with- 
out a knife, after careful ablutions, and offerings of bread and wine. All 
these plants were thought to be powerful remedies for all manner of diseases, 
as well as talesmen against evil influences. These, together with amber' 
beads and serpent's eggs, the people carried about with them as charms, and 
buried them in the tombs of their dead. 

The Druids had other more mystic and darker ceremonies, which were 
practiced only in the deep recesses of the forests, and of which no account 
has ever been preserved, for these, the priests, though familiar with an alpha- 
bet, never put in writing. One of their worst rites we know was the sacrifice 
of human beings upon their stone altars. 

All these things the Romans stopped when they entered Britain, and after 
a while they appeared before the refugees in Anglesia. In vain the priests 
called down vengeance upon their foes. In vain the women ran to and fro 
with flying hair, tossing on high the blazing brands they had seized from 
the sacred altars. The stern Romans, pausing only for a moment to observe 
their strange performances, rushed upon the Druids, priests and priestesses, 
and put an end to them and their religion. 



England. 



109 



The Stonehekge. — All over England and northern France, curious 
stones are found, which are suj>posed to be the remains of temples, altars, 
or places of burial left by the Druids. In some places the stones are 
arranged in circles, in others in heaps, and in still others there stands only 
a single tall stone. 

On Salisbury plains, in southern England, is the most wonderful of all 
these antiquities. It is a large circle of huge upright stones, containing a 
smaller circle of smaller stones, and within that two ovals, the stones of 
which are smaller still ; but none would weigh less than ten tons, and the 
largest would weigh seventy. In the centre is a flat slab fifteen feet long, 




STONEHENGE. 

which is supposed to have been the altar ; beneath it have been found the 
bones of 'deer, oxen and other animals, mixed with burnt wood and pieces of 
pottery. 

Many of the stones composing the Stonehenge have fallen, but enough 
remain to show the original shape and size of the immense structure. 

How those rude people managed to raise these great solid blocks that 
tower up four or five times as high as a man, and then to lay across them 
others nearly as large, and mortised them to the uprights, is a mystery. 
And so is the purpose for which the whole was built. Whole books have 
been written on the subject, but few writers hold the same opinion. Some 
think it was erected in honor of the four hundred and sixty Britons slain 
by Hengist, the Saxon. Some think it was a monument raised to Hengist ; 



110 • Persons and Places in Europe. 

some think it was a place for observing the stars, or for public assemblies. 
But the majority think it was a place of worship built long before the Saxons 
came to Britian. This opinion seems the more probable from the fact that 
all around the Stonehenge is a vast burying ground, containing numberless 
mounds or barrows, in many of which skeletons have been found with their 
heads lying toward the Stonehenge, as if that were considered a holy place. 

In nearly all of the mounds have been found human bones and various 
ornaments and beads of amber, jet and gold. In one of the mounds the 
bones were in an urn of baked clay, and from their size, .and the quantity 
of female ornaments mixed with them, the discoverers judged that they 
were the remains of a young girl. There were beads of all shapes and sizes, 
some of colored glass and some of baked clay ; some were covered with 
metal, one with a film of gold. These had all been burned with the body, 
and all that could crumble was ready to fall to pieces. 

This part of the great plain of Salisbury presents a curious sight in the 
morning at sunrise, when each little bell-shaped mound is tipped with golden 
light, and all the rest of the plain lies in shadows, except the tall, silent and 
solemn monuments of the Stonehenge, whose secrets neither the light of 
the sun, nor the light of learning have yet been able to reveal. 

The Roman Wall. — Side by side with the rude works of the old bar- 
barians are the traces left by their civilized conquerers, the Romans. Old 
fortresses, castles, walls, bridges and roads, though nearly distroyed by the 
hand of time, yet tell of the intelligent and exact workman whose purpose 
was to hold the conquered land, to defend it from surrounding savages, and 
to teach the conquered people the arts of civilization. 

The greatest work left by the Romans is the long wall running across 
Great Britian from the Solway Firth almost to the North sea. There are 
really two walls, the nortnern one of stone, and about sixty yards below it on 
the south another of earth ; between the two runs a smooth level road about 
seventeen feet wide. The stone wall is very straight, except where there are 
hills in its way. Instead of turning aside to go around them, it always goes 
straight to their summits, shooting from the top of one to the top of the 
next in a sharp zigzag line. 

The work of this wall, and the inscriptions found upon some of the 
stones, show that the Romans were the builders, and we have some account 
of it in their old latin writings. We know too that after they had taken 
possession of Briton, they found the Picts on the north very troublesome. 
They would come rushing down unexpectedly upon the cultivated fields and 



England. 



Ill 



thriving villages of the Britons do a great deal of damage, and be back among 
their hills again before any one could stop them. It did no good to follow 
them, for their mountains were full of safe hiding places. So to keep them 
out the Romans built this great wall, eighteen feet high, and by its side a 
wide and deep ditch. At short distances apart, about four miles, were 
placed stations large enough to hold a number of soldiers, and between these, 




PART OF A ROMAN WALL. 



about a mile apart, smaller stations, and between these yet little turrets, or 
watch towers. 

By keeping the turrets constantly guarded, and strong garrisons at each 
station, word could be quickly sent along the line wherever a band of Picts 
made their appearance; and before they could cross the wide ditch and 
scale the high wall, a large body of soldiers could hurry along the smooth 
road and be on hand to stop them. 

It would seem at first that there was no need for the earthen wall at the 
south, but there were some tribes not quite subdued in that portion of the 



112 Persons and Places in Europe. 

country, and it would have been too good an opportunity for them to break 
out while the soldiers had their backs turned, if there had been no southern 
wall. One of the Roman generals once said, it had long been his opinion 
that the back of a general or his army was never safe, so this is the reason, 
it is supposed, that two walls were built. It was on the north, however, that 
the greater danger lay, so the northern wall was made the stronger. 

The Blood Banquet.— Troubles at home compelled the Romans after a 
period of about five hundred years, to withdraw their soldiers from Britain, 
and as soon as the Picts saw that the Roman eagles no longer waved above 
the garrisons, they quickly clambered over the wall and descended upon the 
well-kept fields and flocks of the Britons, robbing, murdering and burning. 
The Britons tried for a while to keep the savages out, and then they hired 
a band of Saxons, who were staying on the island of Thanet, to fight for 
them. The Picts soon fled from before the prancing white horse °on the 
banner of Hengist, the Saxon ; and Yertigen, king of the Britons, took care 
to treat their deliverers with great respect. When soon afterward, five 
thousand more of the Saxons came over from Germany, they too 'were 
welcomed ; but when Yertigen shortly took the daughter of Hengist to be 
his wife, the Britons said it was time for the Saxons to take their leave, and 
Yertigen was made to give up his crown to his son. 

After a short struggle the Saxons retreated, but in a few years Hengist 
come back to beg for peace. Yertigen, who was again king, received him in 
good faith, and prepared in his honor a great banquet on Salisbury Plain, 
to which all the most distinguished British nobles were invited. They were 
asked to bring neither spear nor shield, for it was to be a gathering of 
friends. There was to be no strife among the jovial company, the invitation 
said. 

" The heroes went to the feast cheerful and sprightly," says the old 
Welsh poet, "while he, the bitter warrior, was disposing of his blades. 
Adorned with a wreath was the leader of the sea-drifted wolves, and of 
amber was that wreath which twined about his temples." 

Hengist had arranged that one of his own people should sit next to 
each Briton, and had told his men that when he should rise and say, " take 
your knives," each Saxon should seize his knife and plunge itfinto the 
breast of his British neighbor. 

The banquet began with much mirth and joyousness, but in the midst 
of it, while the Britons were reveling in the good cheer before them Hen- 
gist arose and repeated the fatal words. Each Saxon quickly drew his 



England. 



113 



knife, and so completely was the deadly work done, that only three of the 
British nobles escaped. From that time the Saxons set up their rule in 




ROBIN HOOD. 



Briton, and the rightful owners were killed or driven into the mountains in 
Wales. 

Sherwood Forest. — The savage Saxons, after driving out the owners of 



114 Persons and Places in Europe. 

the land, settled down and made themselves at home for about six hundred 
years. Then it came their turn to be invaded. William of Normandy came 
over from France, defeated the Saxons in the great battle of Hasting and 
made himself king. But the Saxons were not murdered and driven out as 
the Britons had been. The Normans held all the offices, their language was 
the only one spoken at court, and some very strict rules were made about 
hunting in the forests, which William declared to be his special property. 
The Saxons, of course, thought all of this was very hard ; they complained 
of the injustice done by the Norman office-holders, and there was much ill- 
will on both sides. 

During these troublous times, there appeared among, the Saxons a 
defiant young man known as Robin Hood, who became their hero and idol, 
because of his kindness to them and his disregard for the more fortunate 
Normans. 

Collecting a band of men whom he trained to be expert archers, Robin 
took up his aliode in Sherwood forest, where he hunted as much as he liked 
in spite of the kings orders, and relieved the passing monks and nobles of 
their purses, but all in a most polite and gentle manner, if the stories told 
of him are true. 

His custom was to station his men about the forest, and when they saw 
a wealthy knight approaching, they invited him to come and dine with their 
chief. No refusal, of course, was ever accepted, for their master had made 
preparations for his guests, they said, and could not be disappointed. 

Arrived at Robin's camp, the travelers always found a good dinner wait- 
ing, and Robin a most jovial host ; but afterward the guest was requested to 
pay a good round sum for his entertainment, as much as Robin judged he 
could afford. 

One day as Robin's men were watching, they saw a knighfc riding by 
alone, whom they invited, according to the usual custom, to dine with their 
master. The knight was somewhat surprised when told that dinner had 
been waiting for him three hours, and knew not how to refuse so courteous 
an invitation ; so he was taken to Robin's abode. 

The dinner which followed was a good one, for there was plenty of game 
in the forest, and Robin's men were unerring archers. When it was finished 
the knight rose to go, and began to thank his host warmly for his entertain- 
ment. But Robin gently hinted that thanks was not sufficient. The knight 
replied that he was ashamed to offer what was in his purse, it was so small 
a sum, all he had, he said, was ten shillings. Robin bade one of his men 



England. 115 

examine the purse, saying to the knight that if this were really so he would 
gladly lend him some money. 

John, the attendant, reported that the knight had said truly, his purse 
contained but ten shillings. Robin was interested at once, and inquired of 
the knight the cause of his thin purse. 

The stranger then told Robin how his son, in a tournament, had killed 
his antagonist, for which he had been arrested, and the father had sold all 
his goods and pledged his lands to obtain money for his son's defense. 
Moreover, the day had nearly arrived upon which he was to redeem his 
lands, and he should not be able to raise the money, so he should lose all he 
had. To Robin's further inquiries he said that all of his friends, who had 
flattered him when he was rich and partook of his hospitality, had now 
deserted him, and that he should soon have to leave his native land and seek 
his fortune elsewhere. Robin and all the company were much touched by 
the stranger's story, and when he left the place it was with a pocket full 
of money, enough to pay his debt and redeem his lands. 

But this was not the end of the story. The Abbot who had lent the 
money to the knight and taken his lands in pledge, was looking eagerly for- 
ward to the day of redemption, believing that the knight would be unable to 
pay and then all these broad acres should be his at a cost of only four hun- 
dred pounds. 

When the day of settlement came the knight appeared, and to try the good 
man's mercy, pretended that he had not the money. This was exactly what 
the abbot had expected and prepared to clinch the land at once, nor could 
he be persuaded to wait a little longer. Then the knight produced the 
money and demanded his paper of the much astonished and greatly disap- 
pointed abbot. 

One year from the day the knight had dined with Robin, he was to 
return and pay the debt, so when the day arrived, and a very magnificent 
procession was seen entering the wood, Robin supposed that it was the 
knight coming to return his money. Instead of the knight, however, it was 
the greedy old abbot, who was taking a trip through the wood with his gay 
attendants. As the chief man in the train, he was taken by Robin's men, who 
pretended to believe that he had been sent as an ambassador by the knight 
to pay the money, and though he stoutly denied all knowledge of any such 
business, they persisted in their demands for the money. To clear himself 
the abbot declared that he had but twenty marks in his coffers. 

Robin commanded Little John to see if this were true, and lo ! eight 



116 Persons and Places in Europe. 

hundred pounds were found in the good monk's purse. Of course the 
woodsman considered himself justified in taking it all, and the abbot went 
sorrowfully on his way. 

A little later in the day the real knight appeared, with a hundred men 
clothed in red and white, bringing as a present to the forresters a hundred 
beautiful bows, and a hundred sheaves of arrows, each with burnished head 
and ornamented with silver and peacock plumes. He regretted that he was 
so late in the day he said, but he had stopped by the way to help some one 
out of trouble. Robin readily excused him and forgave him the debt, as 
he had already received twice the amount that day from the abbot. 

Saint George and the Dragon. — For each period of their early history 
the English have had a popular hero. During the age of the Britons there 
was Arthur Pendragon, who made himself known as the son of the king by 
pulling the magic sword out of the stone at London, and then forming his 
famous circle of knights about the enchanted "round table," rode forth 
with them to perform most wonderful exrjloits. The poet Tennyson tells 
a number of the legends of King Arthur in his " Idyls of the King," and a 
table, said to be the very one around which the hero used to gather his 
knights, is still kept at Winchester Castle ; but many persons think that 
Arthur, table, and all are only myths. 

But there was a real King Alfred during the Saxon period, who fought 
against the Danish ' ' vikings ' ' so successfully that he became a national hero, 
and then after the Norman conquest, came Robin Hood. Still later, before 
the bad feeling between the Normans and Saxons was entirely healed another 
personage was introduced to the English, both as a hero and a saint, and he, 
though he had lived many years before, and had probably never heard of the 
British Isles, and though Saint Augustine had come from Rome and con- 
verted the whole of Saxon England to Christianity, this foreigner, Saint 
George, the slayer of Dragons, became the patron saint of England. One 
reason for this was the disdain of the Normans for everything belonging 
io the Saxons, Saint Augustine not accepted, and another was the peculiar 
character and history of Saint George, which made him suit both Norman 
knights, and Saxon peasants. 

" Saint George " was born, as nearly as can be learned, in far off Lydda, 
many years before the battle of Hastings. His parents had accepted the 
then new religion of Christianity, and being a wealthy family, their son was 
allowed to enter the Roman army as a lieutenant under Diocletian. But 
this emperior began to persecute the Christians, and young George resigned 



England. 



117 



his command, declaring that he was a Christian and should stand by his 
faith. He was therefore arrested, tortured and put to death. 

After he was burried the people who visited his tomb declared that they 
had been cured of various ailments during their visits. His very bones they 
said possessed the power of healing. So he was made a saint, and when the 
persecution of the Christians ceased, and a Christian emperor ruled over 
Rome, a church was raised 
above his remains. 

When Richard of England 
reached Palestine, to engage in 
the war of the Crusades, he 
found the fame of Saint George 
spread over all the land. The 
knights of the cross called 
upon him in all their trouble, 
and even believed that he had 
left his throne in heaven and 
come down to help them fight 
against the Turks. Richard 
learned to call upon him too, 
and determined to carry the 
fame of the knightly saint back 
to England. 

There was still another side 
to Saint George's character 
that had much to do with his 
reception in England. In the 
same country where his fame 
first arose, there had been two 
cities, one named after Reseph, 
the god of light, the other after 

Dagon, the god of darkness. They were rival cities in trade, and after a 
time the people of the city of light rose up and slew the people of the city 
of darkness. As the story was told over by succeeding generations, it 
grew to be a myth about Reseph, god of light, slaying Dagon, the god of 
darkness, part of whose body was like a fish. 

This myth spread about till it reached Egypt, where there was also a god 
of light, and plenty of real dragons and crocodiles for him to slay. An 




SAINT GEORGE AND THE DRAGON. 



118 Persons and Places in Europe. 

Egyptian artist represented the myth in a bas-relief, — a mounted god with 
his feet on a reptile's neck thrusting his lance into the creatures spine. 

And so the Egyptian bas-relief became, after a while, the symbol of the ? 
Lyddian saint, and was pictured on the banners of the knights who went 
forth to fight against the Turks in Palestine, and Richard carried the fame 
of the saint, his banner and his war-cry back with him to England. The 
Normans were pleased with the knightly character of Saint George, and 
the Saxons, who believed with nearly all the rest of the world that marshes, 
which were numerous in England, were the abodes of fearful dragons, were 
very glad to know a saint who was a dragon-slayer. 

A few years after Richard's return the council of Oxford ordered a feast- 
day to be held in his honor, and in the next century Edward III. built a 
chapel to Saint George at Windsor Palace, and at a grand tournament 
founded the Order of the Garter, of which Saint George was the special 
patron. 

The Apostle of Britain. — A building from which has gone out a far 
greater influence than ever went from the chapel of Saint George, stands in 
the city of Canterbury, southeast of London. It was here that Saint Augus- 
tine lived and labored until the whole Saxon nation, that was devoted to 
paganism when he came, had become Christianized. 

Christianity was preached among the Britons by the Romans, but when 
the Saxons came they made the country a pagan land again, and so it con- 
tinued for about a century and a half. About this time Pope Gregory the 
First was an archdeacon in Rome, and one day he saw in the streets some 
Saxon children who had been sent there from England to be sold as slaves. 
The sight troubled him, and as he thought on the sad condition of those 
pagan people who could sell their own children into slavery, he determined 
to go and carry the gospel to the benighted land, but before he was ready 
to go he was called to be Pope. But he did not forget about the English, 
and as soon as he could, sent forty monks with Augustine at their head to 
convert the Saxons, and Angles (or English — England meaning Angle-land). 

Augustine and his brother monks landed at the island of Thanet, in the 
southeastern part of England, and here king Ethelbert, with his Queen 
Bertha, came down to meet them. Sitting down in the open air, Ethelbert 
called the monks around him and asked what they proposed to do. 

Augustine answered in an earnest speech in which he strongly urged the 
king himself to become a Christian, and Ethelbert, like Agrippa of old, was 
almost persuaded, but he finally said: 



England. 



119 



"Your proposals are noble, and your promises inviting, but I cannot 
resolve to quit the religion of my ancestors. Since, however, you have 
undertaken so long a journey on purpose to impart to us these things which 
you deem so important you shall not be sent away without some satisiaction. 
I will take care that you are treated with civility and supplied with all 
things necessary and convenient. And if any of my people, convinced by 
your arguments, desire to embrace your f aitln I will not oppose them. 

The Queen, who had become a Christian ^efore she left France, asked 
Ethelbert to invite Augustine to their palace at Canterbury to hold meet- 
ings which he did, and the Queen gave him the use of her own chapel _ 

In less than a year the King became a convert to the new religion which 
had already been received by many of his subjects. After Ethelbert was 
baptized the people nocked to the churches by thousand. As many as 
ten thousand it is said were baptized in a single day. The old pagan 
temples were deserted, many of them were consecrated to Christian services ; 
and at Canterbury was laid the foundations of a great cathedral, which 
Augustine did not live to see completed, but which has long been one of the 
finest buildings in the land as well as the tomb of the saint and the centre 
of Christian influence. 

The Shrine of Saint Cuthbert.— For nearly a thousand years alter 
Augustine converted the Saxons from idolatry the church of Rome was the 
established religion of England, and all its institutions were greatly vener- 
ated Great and good men who gave their lives to preaching the gospel were 
looked upon after their death as more than ordinary mortals. Their very 
bones were thought to have miraculous powers ; extravagant stories were 
told of them and long visits were made to the shrines where they rested. 

A favorite shrine in England was the cathedral of Durham, which con- 
tained the remains of Saint Cuthbert, hermit of Lindisfarne. The stories 
told of this remarkable man say that when he was a mere boy, tending sheep 
like David of old, he felt caUed to enter a monastery and devote himself to 

a holy life. 

After passing several years among the brethren of St. Aiden he was 
chosen prior of Melrose, and then abbot of the monastery of Lindisfarne, or 
" Holy Island," off the coast of Northumberland. Here he lived for a long- 
time, going over to the mainland occasionally and preaching the gospel to 
the dwellers in the glens and fortresses who had never yet heard of it— were 
yet under the spell of the old Druids. His preaching met with much 
success, and the fierce hunters and warriors of the northern woods learned to 



120 Persons and Places in .Europe. 

lower their spears before the Cross and become less ferocious, more 
brotherly. 

After fourteen years spent in this way he felt the need of more time for 
prayer and study, so he went further out in the sea to the desolate island of 
Fame, where there was nothing but the roaring sea and screaming sea- 
birds to disturb the stillness of the stern bare rocks. Here he built him a 
small house by scraping together the patches of scanty turf that grew in 
the sheltered hollows, and piling up a few rough stones. The windows he 
placed so high that he could see nothing but the sky, in order that his 
attention might not be distracted even by the seagulls, the waves and the 
rocks. 

What he lived on no one knows, for nothing could grow on those bare 
stones ; tradition says that a spring gushed out of the rock at his bidding 
and he only had to strike his hoe into the earth to obtain vegetables . How- 
ever that may be, he managed in some way to obtain food, and here 
he lived for nine years. Much as he was revered in his life it was not 
until after his death that the people began to hear what a wonderful man he 
was. His body, so it is said, after being enshrined at Lindisf arne f or along 
time, was discovered to be perfectly incorruptible and possessed of most 
miraculous power. 

When the Danish vikings came pouring down upon England, and the 
monks were obliged to fly from the monastery, they took the sacred body of 
Saint Cuthbert with them in a stone coffin. And then new marvels began. 
Seven stout monks could barely carry the heavy coffin, but when they came 
to a stream of water it would float easily along upon the surface, and many 
miracles of healing were performed on the journey to Chester-le- Street. There 
the coffin was left for more than a hundred years ; but the Danes came again, 
and again the body had to. be carried still further. After another long 
journey it was set down where the city of Durham now stands, a shrine was 
built for it, and here it has remained ever since, the center of many historic 
events. Here Canute the Dane came on a pilgrimage, with naked feet and in 
pilgrim garb, to pay honors to the shrine of the saint. Here Robert Comyn, 
whom William the Conqueror sent to subdue the north of England, was sur- 
rounded by an angry host of peasantry, and here William himself come to 
punish them with fire and sword. Here came many of Scotlands noted men, 
Malcom, the Braces and Baliol, during the fierce border wars ; here a peace 
was celebrated when James I. of Scotland was liberated and sent home with 
his young wife, and here raged the destructive scenes of the Reformation, 



England. 



121 



and the Puritanical purging of Cromwell's time when, all shrines and relics 
were unmercifully de- 
stroyed. 

To this shrine came 
princes and people of 
all ranks, eager to offer 
lands, money, jewels 
and more relics which 
in turn drew more visi- 
tors, and so the place 
grewin riches and 
splendor until a con- 
vent, a cathedral, and 
a city rose up around 
the sacred shrine. 

Literary Shrines. 
— Veneration of relics 
died out in England 
after the Reformation. 
The tomb of Saint 
Cuthbert and all the 
other holy shrines were 
deserted. Now the 
places most frequented 
by visitors are the 
homes or graves of 
England's great states- 
men, scholars, writers 
and poets. At the head 
of the list stands the 
little house at Strat- 
ford-on-Avon, where 
the great Shakspeare 
was born and the tomb 
which contains the 
threatening verse 
about moving his 
bones. Near Bedford is another shrine where the author of the Pil- 




shakspeare's monument. 



122 Persons and Places in Europe. 

grim's Progress was born, and at Stoke Pogis, near Windsor Castle, is 
the home of Gray, and the churchyard from which all the scenes of his 
great elegy may be traced. There may still be seen " the rugged elm," 
"the yew-tree's shade," "the swelling mound where heaves the turf in 
many a mouldering heap," and there too is the grave where the poet him- 
self is "in his narrow cell forever laid." In the distance are " the spires and 
towers" that crown the "watery glade," and those fields where he says 
his " careless childhood strayed." All the features of the landscape which 
he pictures, and nearly all the sounds of nature which he describes, may 
here be seen and heard, — the "twittering swallow," the "lowing herd" 
and the " drowsy tinkling of the sheep in the fold." No monument has 
yet been raised over his tomb, but his poem is a monument that will never 
allow his memory to fade as long as the English language is spoken. 

Hampton Court. — No one of the celebrated buildings of England, the 
cathedrals, castles and palaces, full of memories of other days, ever wit- 
nessed so much elegance and rich display as {lid Hampton Court during 
the reign of the great Cardinal Wolsey. Not even Windsor Palace, where 
Queen Elizabeth used to stay with her maidens while she hunted in the 
great park, and danced with her courtiers in the palace halls ; where nearly 
all the English sovereigns from William III., who rebuilt and adorned it, 
down to Queen Victoria have made it their chief residence, has ever been 
the scene of so much stately splendor, or filled with as rich a train of cour- 
tiers and attendants, as gathered around the Cardinal in this palace. 

And well he might indulge in splendid surroundings, for not even the 
king received so great an income as he. All the fat offices in church and 
state had been bestowed upon him by the king and the pope. He was lord 
chancellor and chief cardinal, and princes and dignitaries from foreign 
courts sought his favor. By his adroitness he ruled the strong-minded 
Henry, and whoever had a favor to ask went first to the Cardinal Wolsey. 

While in the enjoyment of all this power and riches he fitted up Hampton 
Court for his private residence, though when Henry came to visit him, and, 
surprised at the splendor, inquired if such a palace were becoming in a sub- 
ject, Wolsey answered with ready tact, " I hope it is a becoming present for 
a subject to offer to his king." Henry did not claim the present, though, 
for some time, and the Cardinal continued in his glory. 

The servants in the household at Hampton Court numbered between five 
and eight hundred persons. Each department had its chief officers and 
trains of assistants. There was a master of the wardrobe, of the laundry. 



England. 



123 



of the bake-house, and of the woodyard, each with a small army of assist- 
ants ; and there were gatemen, stable-men, farmers, yeomen, and grooms 
without number. 

In the kitchen which supplied the public tables were two head clerks, a 
clerk-comptroller, a surveyor of the dressers, a clerk of spicery, two cooks 
with laborers and children for assistants, a dozen turn-spits, four scullery- 
men, two pastry-men and two paste layers. Besides, the Cardinal had his 
own private kitchen, with a master cook daily dressed in velvet or satin, and 
under him another 
ariny of officers. 
Among these were 
clerks of the larder, 
the scullery, the 
ewry, the buttery, 
the chandlery and 
the wafery. In his 
private chapel were 
deans, and sub- 
deans, a gospeler, an 
epistler, a repeater, 
a singing master, 
choirmen and chil- 
dren, a vestryman 
and two grooms. 
There were forty 
priests in attend- 
ance, all wearing rich 
vestments of white 

satin, scarlet or crimson. The altar was covered with massive plate and 
blazed with jewels and precious stones. 

Another army of clerks, chamberlain's ushers, and grooms attended him 
in his private chamber, and another set accompained him on his travels. 

When he dressed to go to Westminister Hall he summoned his retinue 
and they speedily clothed him in his cardinal's robes, his upper vesture of 
red, scarlet or crimson satin, his scarlet " pillion " and sable tippet. In his 
hand, when he was ready to go out, he carried an orange shell containing a 
sponge of aromatic vinegar lest in the crowd he should inbibe a pestilence ; 
a great lord or gentleman walked before him carrying the seal of England 




ROOM IN WHICH SHAKSPEARE WAS BORN. 



124 Persons and Places in Europe. 

and his cardinal's hat; two others proceeded this bearing two large silver 
crosses, and before these thenshers cried " On masters, on, and make room 
for my lord." As he descended to the hall of his palace other officers took 
their places in front, a sergeant-at-arms with a great silver mace and two 
gentlemen bearing silver plates. 

At the gate he mounted his mule, trapped in crimson velvet, and with 
his cross-bearers and pillar-bearers before him, all on fine horses, and sur- 
rounded by a train of gentry and footmen, proceeded on his way. 

When he went to visit king Henry at Greenwich, he sailed in his 
magnificent barge with troops of yeomen standing on the sails, and crowds 
of gentlemen about the deck. When he disembarked his mule and cavalcade 
stood ready to conduct him to the king's door. Wherever he went the 
same stately, solemn following accompanied him. 

Within his stately palace very stately banquets were given to stately 
lords and ladies who came, and had as merry a time as it were possible amid 
so much stateliness. 

But at last the great Wolsey was stripped of all his greatness ; the king 
was influenced against him ; friends and fortune fled. Friendless and in 
disgrace he sought a refuge for his last hours in a convent. Shakspeare 
pictures him at the convent door saying : — 

" O Father abbot, 
An old man broken with the storms of state, 
Is come to lay his weary bones among ye ; 
Give him a little earth for charity !" 

The Crystal Palace. — The most beautiful building now in England is 
the Crystal Palace, the wonderful city of glass and iron, now at Sydenham. 
It was first erected at Hyde Park to serve as an exhibition building when 
Prince Albert, husband of Queen Yictoria, instituted there the first " world's 
fair" held in Great Britain. Afterwards it was sold to a company, taken 
down and re-erected at Sydenham, where it now stands. 

The building is four or five stories high, built entirely of strong iron 
frames, into which are set long, narrow plates of glass. Two towers, seyen 
or eight stories high, contain reservoirs of water which supply the foun- 
tains in all parts of the palace and in the gardens surrounding it. 

Inside of this great palace, which covers twenty acres, one seems to be 
walking through a street in Paris or Brussels. There are shops where 
porcelain, jewelry, pictures and all kinds of industrial products are dis- 
played ; there are places of amusement, theatres, concerts, restaurants, and 
vast hot-houses containing almost every kind of rare and strange plant in the 




HAMPTON COURT. 



126 Persons and Places in Europe. 

world, lovely flowers,, and giant trees with birds sporting and singing among 
the branches. There is also a large aquarium containing many strange 
creatures from the water world, among which is a number of sea-anemones, 
helpless flower-like creatures that have to be waited on by an attendant, 
whose sole business is to place small shrimps, crabs, oysters and fish within 
reach of their waving tentacula. 

Many rare works of art, paintings, pieces of sculpture, adorn the different 
parts of the building, good music may almost always be heard in some part, 
and altogether it is a most attractive place of resort, as is proved by the 
crowds of ladies and gentlemen by whom it is frequented. 

Tin Mines. — There is no other country in the world that can better 
afford fine castles, palaces and costly public works than England. " Eng- 
lish gold" is a familiar expression all over the world, and it has had much 
to do with the world's history. Large sums of money have been paid to 
countries who fought in her interests besides those that her own armies 
have cost. Other countries trying to do the same have been impoverished, 
the people have had to suffer for the extravagance of the rulers. But Eng- 
land's wealth is almost inexhaustible ; it rolls in to her from her colonies all 
over the globe, while beneath her feet she has mines of mineral wealth. In the 
southwest are the tin mines which brought Phoenician gold to Britian before 
the Romans came, and which ever since have yielded thousands of dollars 
worth of metal every year. There are more than three hundred of these mines 
in Cornwall, furnishing employment to about thirty thousand persons. 
All round, the rocks resound with incessant clanging of steam hammers, 
by which the ore, brought up from the mines below, is being reduced to 
powder. This is afterward mixed with water and filtered over long shelv- 
ing plates in which the tin, being heavier, forms a thin incrustation. The 
metal is then poured into vats and again mixed with water, the finer por- 
tion settling at the bottom. 

It is quite amusing to see the different machines acting almost human 
in their various movements. A brush looking like a paint brush is dipped 
by machinery every few minutes very slowly and steadily, as if with great 
jugment, into some water in a trough beneath, which but for this would 
become stagnant. Another immense vat is tapped every few minutes with 
a piece of wood to assist in precipitating the metal. 

The ancient Britons used to be very careful about the quality of the. 
metal sold to their Phoenician customers. 

The tin on being melted was put into moulds, holding usually above 




CRYSTAL PALACE. 



128 Persons and Places in Europe. 

three hundred weight, and stamped with the owner's mark, by laying th 
brass or iron stamp on the face of the block of tin, while it was yet in a fluid 
State, but cool enough to sustain the stamping iron. 

When the tin was brought to the assay-master, it was tried by cutting 
off a piece from the lower corner. If found good it was stamped with his 
seal, an assurance that it had been examined and found all right. The 
punishment of him who used to bring bad tin was to have a portion of it 
melted and poured down his throat. 

The Phoenicians were thus particular about the quality because, it is said, 
they used it in the manufacture of their Tyrian Purple, and any adulteration 
would have been fatal to the trade. 

The Greeks were anxious to discover where the Phoenicians obtained 
their tin, and sent one of their vessels to track a Phoenician trader, but it 
was discovered by the wary captain, who it was said purposely ran his 
vessel ashore in imminent danger of shipwreck to avoid detection. He was 
highly rewarded when he returned home for having preserved so valuable a 
secret of the national commerce. 

The Portland Quarries. — East of the tin regions, along the southern 
coast of England, are the celebrated Portland quarries, another fertile source 
of British wealth. All about the quarry may be seen beautifully colored 
stones as large as a good-sized room, some pure white, some mixed with 
shades of yellow and red, and some stained by little rills of mineral water, 
or by mosses and lichens. From projecting rocks hang large orange colored 
stalactites which the quarrymen call " congealed water." 

The good marble lies buried under layers of soil, turf, and coarse stone, 
which must all be removed before the real work of quarrying begins. 

There are many splits in the rock,which assist the quarryman in cutting 
out the blocks of stone, and which also decide the size, and, therefore, the 
use for which the blocks can be prepared. A tall, narrow one will make a 
shaft for a column, a shorter, thicker one, a pier stone for a bridge. They 
are then taken to a convenient place, chipped to their required shape and 
receive their weight-mark. When ready they are lifted on heavy carts and 
wheeled to the railroad station or wharf. The workmen are said to be all 
very strong and hardy, the effects of their vigorous exercise and the pure 
air of the quarry. 

Carrying Coals at Newcastle. — For more than six hundred yeai men 
have been continually picking, shoveling and carrying away coals from the 
famous mines of Newcastle in the northern part of England, and yet the 



England. 



129 



supply shows no signs of giving out. If one would understand how unprofit- 
able would be the labor of " carrying coals to Newcastle," he should visit 
this wide coal field and see the quantities of coal that are being constantly 
carried away to market. As soon as one reaches the Bishopric of Dur- 
ham, he begins to see tall engine-houses, and vastly taller chimneys, breath- 
ing into the sky long black 
clouds of smoke. He hears 
groans and whistlings and 
numerous unearthly sounds 
around him, which come 
from the great engines that 
work the machinery of the 
mines, and the pulleys and 
gins and cars that shriek 
and groan and rumble as 
they carry away the coals. 
When he reaches the 
country nearer Newcastle, 
all these operations — 
the groanings and wail- 
ings, the cinders and 
fires increase . Here he 
passes one of the tall 
engine-houses that he 
saw in the distance, 
with its tall chimney, 
hoisting into the sky 
slanting columns of 
turbid smoke. He now 
spes from the upper 
part of the engine 

house a huge beam, protruding itself like a giant's arm, lifting itself up and 
then falling again. To this beam is attached the rod and bucket of a pump 
which, probably at some hundred yards deep, is lifting out the water from 
a mine and enabling the miners to work where otherwise they would be 
dro 1 tied in the water that floods the mine. Or he sees a great beam placed 
on a high support and wagging its ends alternately up and down, doing 
the same work in a different way. 




GRANITE QUARRIES. 



130 Persons and Places in Europe. 

There again the huge engines are at work whirling baskets down into 
the deep shafts for coal, or whirling the colliers themseves down to get the 
coal. For two or three hundred yards, down into the bowels of the earth, 
they are sent with a rapidity that to a stranger is frightful, the engines all 
the time groaning and coughing over their toil like so many condemned 
Titans ; and the wheels and pulleys that they had put in motion, singing 
and whistling like so many lesser spirits doomed to attend their labors. 

Here one sees baskets of coal emerge from the mouth of the pit, and im- 
mediately, as if by self agency, run away, empty themselves into a wagon 
or boat, and come back ready for a fresh descent. There is a whole train of 
wagons loaded with coal, going on their way without horse, without steam- 
engine, without man, except one who sits behind, and instead of pro- 
pelling these mad wagons, he seems to be trying to stop them with his 
weight. 

But what is one's amazement when he comes insight of the river Tyne to 
see these wagons still careering at the very brink of the water : to see a rail- 
way carried from the high bank, and supported on tall piles, horizontally 
above the surface of the river, and to some distance into it, as if to allow 
these wagon trains to run right off, and dash themselves down into the river. 

There they go, all mad together ! Another moment and they will shoot 
off the end of the lofty railway, and go headlong into the Tyne, helter- 
skelter ! But see ! As they draw near the river they pause ! They stop ! 
One by one they detach themselves, and one runs on by itself, while the others 
wait. It nears the river, and a pair of gigantic arms separate themselves from 
the end of the railway. They catch the wagon and hold it suspended in the 
air. They let it softly and gently descend. A ship lies below the end of the 
railway ; the wagon descends to it. A man standing there strikes a bolt, and 
the bottom falls from the wagon. The coals are quickly deposited into the 
hold of the vessel. Then up again the wagon soars in that pair of gigantic 
arms . It reaches the railway, and glides away of its own accord to a distance 
and there it awaits its brethren. As they are carried down and emptied, they 
come on and join it, and then all glide swiftly back over the plain to the 
distant pit. 

The Thames Tunnel. — Where plenty most abounds, and good govern- 
ment gives fullest assurance to the people of continued peace and prosperity, 
there the greatest advancement will be made in literature, science and art. 
The English have long held a foremost rank in all these, but the arts in 
which they have most excelled have not been the finer ones, sculpture 



England. 



131 



painting so much as works of invention and engineering, sUch as bare 
most directly npon their manufacturing and commercial interests. 

For many years the Thames, in the thickest part of London, was so 




BLAST FURNACES. 



choked up with all kinds of craft that it was next to impossible for a ferry 
boat to make its way across, or for a bridge to span it without interfering 
with tjhe shipping. When, therefore, Sir Mark Brunei, in the early part of 
the present century, proposed to build a tunnel under the Thames the 



132 Persons and Places in Europe. 

proposition was received with great favor, by those who did not declare it 
an impossibility. Work was begun in 1825, but accidents, mismanagement, 
and want of confidence, brought it to a stand still and seemingly confirmed 
the words of those who said it could not be done, but after nineteen years 
of patient labor on the part of the designer, the great task was completed. 
Since then others have been built. 

The following account of Queen Victoria's visit to the Tunnel, soon after 
its completion, was published at the time in a London paper : 

It was not generally known until the middle of the day that the Queen 
and Prince Albert intended to pay a visit to the Tunnel, then in a short time 
the streets presented a very gay appearance. Flags were hoisted from 
nearly every house, and people made their way from all quarters to the 
Middlesex side where the royal standard was hoisted. The bells of the old 
church struck up a merry peal and the. standard was hung out from the 
steeple. At one o'clock the tunnel was closed against the public, but those 
who were in it, among them a number of the nobility and of very elegantly 
dressed ladies who had been invited by the directors, remained. The 
Tunnel Pier, on which it was announced that her Majesty would land, was 
covered with crimson cloth, and a ladder was fixed on the outer barge for 
her Majesty and suite to ascend. 

The whole of the Thames police were mustered in their galleys upon the 
river to prevent the multitude of boats from pressing upon the royal barge. 
At half -past three o'clock the firing of guns and the advance of more than 
one hundred small boats announced the approach of the noble company. 
At twenty-five minutes of four her Majesty landed on the pier. Three 
hearty cheers were given by the crowd, which the Queen gracefully acknowl- 
edged. Her Majesty proceeded at once down the shaft into the tunnel and 
entered the western arch, where the cheering was renewed by the company 
assembled. 

The superintendent of the police preceeded the Queen, the acting 
engineer of the work walked by her side, explaining to her Majesty 
the nature of the work and various particulars connected with it, to 
which she and the royal consort paid much attention. 

In the middle of the tunnel one of the stall-keepers displayed his loyality 
in a peculiar manner. All the silk handkerchiefs disposed in his stall for 
sale he spread upon the ground for her Majesty to walk upon, and they pre- 
sented the appearance of a rich carpet. 



England. 133 

Her Majesty proceeded as far as the Rotherhite side, but did not ascend 
it, returning through, the same arch. 

Upon ascending the shaft they were again cheered, and had got about half 
way up when the people below began the national anthem " God save the 
Queen." More than six hundred persons joined in the chorus; their voices 
reverberating along the tunnel and up the shaft had a most pleasing effect. 




SLATE QUARRIES. 

Her Majesty and Prince Albert remained on the staircase listening to the 
strain until it was ended, and then bowing to the people left the place. 

On reaching the tunnel pier her Majesty was saluted by fifty coal porters 

with their faces as black as coals. They raised their fan-tail hats and set 

up a most tremendous cheer. Her Majesty turned round, smiled and bowed. 

" God bless youmar'm " roared one of the coaleys with stentorian lungs, 

" I hope. you'll come to Wapping again." 

The rough manners of the honest fellow pleased her Majesty and the 



134 



Persons and Places in Europe. 



Prince very much. Before leaving the tunnel her Majesty was presented 
with a gold medal representing the Tunnel on one side and the illustrious 
engineer, Sir Lambert Brunei, on the other. 




THE THAMESo 



CHAPTER VI. 



IRELAND. 

The country that was once called the "Gem of the Sea" and the 
« Emerald Isle," is to-day " Poor Erin," " Unfortunate Ireland." Her green 
forests are sunken into black 
bogs ; her prosperity has de- 
parted ; the subject of her 
wrongs has filled volumes. 
Still Nature deals kindly 
with her : she has many rich 
acres, which, if properly 
cared for, would supply all 
her wants, and the sunken 
forests furnish an abund- 
ance of heat fuel to take the 
place of wood and coal. All 
she needs to make her a 
prosperous and happy coun- 
try again is good govern- 
ment. 

Peat-bogs. — Between 
Galway and Sligo bays, on 
the west coast of Ireland, is a 
large shoulder of land ex- 
tending into the Atlantic. 
Lines, drawn from the north- 
ern and southern extremities 
of this projection across to 
the east, would measure off 
a belt of country know as 

the "bog" region of Ireland. Nearly all of this strip is marshy ground 
covered with a growth of mosses, lichens, heaths and grasses. Underneath 




136 Persons mid Places in Europe. 

these living carpets lie the decaying roots and leaves of former growths, 
imbedded inmnd, and kept continually wet by the moist climate. 

In some places this rank growth has choked up shallow ponds and lakes, 
in others it has spread itself over good ground, converting it into " bogs." 
It is not uncommon to see a large patch of bog itself moving along over the 
ground, as if on rollers. Water has collected under it, until it has broken 
loose from its resting place, and is carried along by the overflowing water 
until it comes to a level meadow where it stops, and begins to grow. 

A few years ago the people in the neighborhood of the great Sloggan 
bog, were alarmed one day by several loud reports like discharges of artillery 
or claps of thunder coming from the bog. Then, to their astonishment, they 
saw an immense field of turf, moving slowly toward the road. In a few 
minutes it had covered the road for a distance of fifty rods and continuing 
on towards the river Main, nearly choking up its channel. 

When these rank mosses have obtained a footing they begin to increase 
in depth. New leaves come out on top of the old ones each year, and, 
supplied with abundant moisture, gather qualities of mud, and thus the moss 
goes on thickening and deepening. As the depth increases the decaying 
fibers disappear, and the moss becomes blacker until near the bottom peat 
is formed. This substance, when dried, resembles soft coal, and makes very 
good fuel. 

In some bogs the trunks of large trees are found, showing that they have 
formed over ancient forests. It is thought that the trees were perhaps first 
felled by hurricanes, or destroyed by floods, and around their prostrate forms 
the bog moss began to grow ; valuable wood is sometimes dug out of these 
places and sold. 

The business of digging peat affords to many poor families their only 
means of earning a living. On all sides of a large bog may be seen miserable 
little huts, dug out of the bank, and roofed over with sod, showing how 
scanty is the reward of their hard toil. 

The Bells or Shannon. — Through the bog region from north to south, 
draining the lakes of the central part, runs the Shannon, the chief river of 
Ireland. It abounds in fine scenery and furnishes a water-way for many 
parts of the interior. Canals connect it with the chief water courses of the 
northern and eastern regions, and costly dredgings from Limerick down to 
the sea, make it passable there for large vessels. 

Overlooking the wide estuary that begins to broaden out at Limerick, 
stands the old cathedral of the town with its fine peal of bells, whose music 



Ireland. 



137 



resounds far over the waters of the Shannon, and have become widely noted 
for their sweetness. The history of this set of bells is as remarkable as 
their tone. They were made many years ago in Italy, by a young Italian 
who devoted many months to the task, and when they were done, sold them 
to the prior of a' neighboring convent. With the profits of his sale the 
young manufacturer bought a little villa near the convent, and settled down 




with the expectation of growing 
old amid his pleasant surround- 
ings, and within hearing of his 
beloved bells, — the work of his 
hands. 

But misfortune in the shape of 
war visited his quiet home. His 
villa, his friends and all that he had perished ; he alone was left. Even the 
convent bells were gone. The building in which they hung had been razed to 
the earth and the bells taken away. The man became a wanderer ; traveled 
all over Europe but found no place that satisfied him. After years of travel- 
ing, when his hair had turned gray he was possessed with a desire to 
hear again those convent bells which alone of all he had once loved, were 



138 Persons and Places in Europe. 

left upon the earth. Hearing that they were in the cathedral of Limerick, 
he took passage for Ireland. As the vessel came to anchor near the city, 
some one pointed out to him the steeple where the bells hung. Procuring 
a small boat he was rowed toward the town, his eyes fixed all the while 
on the steeple of St Mary. 

The evening was a calm and beautiful one in spring, just the time of year 
to remind him of sunny Italy, his native land. The Shannon lay like a 
broad, smooth mirror, and the boat glided over it almost noiselessly. Sud- 
denly amid the stillness the bells tolled from the cathedral. The rowers 
rested on their oars and waited in silence, as the old Italian crossed his arms 
and lay back in his seat, listening to the familiar tones that brought back 
to him memories of his early home and happiness. 

When the rowers looked around they saw that his eyes were closed, 
although his face was still turned toward the cathedral. They rowed to the 
shore and when the boat landed they found him dead. 

The Giant's Causeway. — A brim of mountains surrounds the bog region 
of Ireland, narrow on the east and west, broader on the north and south. 
Within this brim are many beautiful hills, valleys, rivers, and lakes, and on 
the northern coast is one of Nature's wonders — the Giant's Causeway. 
This remarkable place is a rocky platform composed of jointed columns like 
those of Fingal's Cave, as regularly formed as if hewn out by chisel and rule ; 
and fitted together so exactly that a knife blade, or a sheet of paper can 
scarcely be crowded between them, yet each column is separate and can be 
taken down joint by joint like a stove pipe. Nearly all are six-sided, there 
are some with five, seven, eight, and nine sides. One has only three. 

The platform called the " causeway " is about seven hundred feet long 
and three hundred and fifty wide, extending from the base of a steep 
cliff out into the sea in three divisions, like three separate piers, one much 
larger than the others. 

In various parts of the Causeway the columns rise in curious shaped 
groups, one resembling an organ, another a chair. The organ, called the 
Giant's organ, was once mistaken by a hostile ship at sea for. a castle, and 
several balls were fired into it breaking some of the columns. 

The ancient inhabitants of Ireland, to whom this Causeway was as much 
of a wonder as it is to people of to-day, thought that it must have been the 
work of a Giant, and after a while a story was spread around telling how it 
came to be built. 

It was said that a great giant once lived in the northern coast of Ireland, 



Ireland. 



139 



y%v 



and another over on the coast of Scotland, just opposite. The Scotch giant 
became enraged at the Irish giant one day and expressed a desire to whip 
him. He said he would come over and give him a regular pounding if it 
was not for getting his feet wet. 

The Irish giant very obligingly told him that he would save him the 
annoyance of wetting his feet and still give him an opportunity of fighting. 
So he built this great causeway and then invited the Scotch giant to step 
over and whip him. The great bellig- 
erant came, but instead of beating his 
Irish antagonist he was very badly 
beaten himself, as he might have ex- 
pected, from the hands that could pre- 
pare such a path as the causeway. 

Fairyland. — While the people in 
the north talk of giants, those of the 
west tell fairy stories, and are quite 
well satisfied that certain of their 
pretty mountain glens are the favorite 
haunts of real fairies. It is not unu- 
sual to see a rustic countryman take 
off his hat when he sees an eddy of 
dust raised by the wind whirling about 
in the road before him, and mutter 
half aloud " God speed ye Gentlemen." 
He supposes that the elf-folks are pass- 
ing along, and says it is always best to 
be civil and polite. At any rate he 
wishes to keep on good terms with 
these invisible little people for he has 
heard that they are armed with flint- 
headed arrows, which they sometimes 
shoot at cattle to bewitch them. This 

was the way they used to take revenge, it was said, upon the people who set- 
tled too near their haunts. 

A story is yet told of an industrious peasant, who purchased a farm that 
bordered upon one of the abodes of the fairies, and he not only dug and 
plowed the land close to their doors, and built him a house, but he also set 
up a lime-kiln. 




THE BOYNE OBELISK. 



140 Persons and Places in Europe. 

This was more than the fairies could allow, and they soon began to visit 
their displeasure upon the daring farmer. First his horse fell into the 
quarry, then three of his cows died, and nine of his pigs. He concluded 
that it was because the fairies were displeased with him for digging up 
the earth for his lime-kiln, and so, though it had cost him five guineas, he 
took it down without delay and never burned another brick. 

The Lakes of Killathstey. — The finest scenery in Ireland is in the 
vicinity of the ]akes of Killarney in the southwest. Macgillicuddy's Rocks, 
the highest mountain in Ireland, watch over the beautiful lakes, sur- 
rounded by many other bare and rugged rocks. Passing these sentinels, 
the hills become partially wooded ; the crags which over-hang the road 
are tufted with rich verdure. Then the broad bosom of the upper lake 
begins to spread out in its calm beauty like a smooth mirror set in 
majestic mountains. 

One of the lakes of Killarney contains as many as thirty little islands, 
among which is Innisf alien, particularly noted for its beauty. It is bor- 
dered by a dense wood, but the interior is spread out into the most grace- 
ful lawns, broken here and there by clumps of trees and masses of rock. 
ISTo spot among the lakes is so much frequented as this island of Innisfallen, 
not only by travelers, but the resident gentry, who hold many a picnic there 
in summer, dancing on the green sod and rowing about the little coves that 
fringe the borders. 

The people of the Killarney region have long held a curious tradition 
about the origin of their largest lake. They say that it was once the site of 
a fine city, where lived a daring Irish warrior, by the name of O'Donoghue. 

It was supplied with an abundance of everything except water, of which 
there was only a little spring. A mighty sorcerer had given them this 
spring and charged O'Donoghue that whenever anyone drew water from 
it he should always cover it with the silver vessel which he left for that 
purpose. 

But one day O'Donoghue had drank more wine than was good for him, 
and being very careless and merry, he ordered the silver cover to be brought 
into his house, for it would make him,he said, an excellent bath. His terri- 
fied vassals tried to persuade him not to commit such a fearful sacrilege, 
but he only laughed at their fears and insisted upon its being brought at 
once. " Never fear," he said "the cool night air will do the water good 
and in the morning you will find it fresher than ever." 

Trembling with apprehensions, the servants took the cover from the 






Ireland 



141 



mouth, of the well and carried it to the room of the audacious prince. As 
they did so they imagined that they heard awful sounds coming from it, 
threatening them with vengeance. Fearful and anxious, they retired for 
the night, but one more alarmed than the others fled to the mountains. 

In the' morning he looked down into the valley where lie had left his 
prince and companions and instead of the magnificent city, there was a 
great lake of water. 

So much credit is given to this legend that some of the fishermen are 
still confident that they can see palaces and towers glimmering from the 




ON THE LEE, CORK. 

bottom of the lake when the water is clear. They also declare that when a 
storm is approaching O'Donoghue's giant figure maybe seen riding over 
the waves on a snorting white horse. 

The beautiful scenery about Killarney is sadly marred by sights of 
human wretchedness. Among the few fine mansions of the nobility, are 
hosts of wretched hovels. Within the well-kept grounds of the aristocratic 
enclosures, all is greenness and fertility, without all is want and misery. 
The landlord's family lives in luxury ; the tenant's go hungry and in rags. 
Nearly all of his earnings are taken for rent ; and even if he could save a 
little he cannot buy a foot of land. No matter how frugal and industrious 



142 Persons and Places in Europe. 

he is he can do little to improve his condition. It would be some consola- 
tion if the landlord had the better right to the soil ; bnt when the tenant 
remembers that his ancestors were driven out to make room for those of his 
lord it is no wonder that he protests and rebels against the might that has 
triumphed over right. 

The Round To wees. — Beside the miserable huts of the poor in Ireland, 
stand the evidences of her former prosperous times. Ruined castles, 
fortresses, monasteries and towers tell of the wealth and learning of better 
days. Among her numerous antiquities is a peculiar kind of high tower 
which is found nowhere else after the same pattern. There are more than 
a hundred of these round towers of different heights and sizes, all built in 
the same shape. 

Some are only thirty five feet high, some one hundred and twenty. They 
were once divided into stories, from three to eight according to the height; 
the lioors are yet remaining in two or three. In each story there was one 
window, so placed that it would not come directly over the one below, and 
around the top, just beneath the cone-shaped roof, a series of windows on a 
level with each other ran all around the tower. The top of the roof ended 
in a little sharp point. 

The stones composing the shafts have all been skillfully chiseled and 
nicely fitted together. There is no trace of mortar to be found between them, 
but in places something that appears to have been a kind of cement. 

All the careful examination that has been made of these towers has failed 
to show when, by whom, or for what purpose they were constructed. There 
is evidence that they were standing in the twelfth century ; a traveler 
who visited the country at that time speaks of them, but he could tell 
nothing of their origin. Some say that the Phoenicians erected them for 
fire temples ; others that the Druids used them in proclaiming their festivals ; 
others that the Magians built them for astronomical purposes ; some think 
they were built by the early Christians either for bell towers, for store-rooms 
for their church plate, for monasteries or for places of refuge. But nobody 
can be certain, and the old towers stand silent and dark refusing to give 
any account of themselves. 

The Hall of Tara. — Ireland's oldest relic of the past is a heap of 
mounds on a high hill in the county of Meath, surmounted by a single 
upright stone. Twenty-seven hundred years ago the Irish princes used to 
meet upon this hill in the great Hall of Tara that stood above these mounds. 
Here they elected their king, crowned him upon the upright stone which, 



Ireland. 



143 



during the ceremony tradition says, used to roar, and then they gathered in 
the great hall to make laws. m 

A sumptuous dinner was always given before tne business of the day 
began, announced by the chief trumpeter with three blasts of his horn ine 
first signal called the shield bearers of the prince to enter the grand door 




ROSS CASTLE, KILLARNEY. 

and hand their master', shields to the marshal who hung themi b. ittett 
proper places ; the second blast called the shield-bearers of the generals to 
doThe same ; and the third brought the whole company to their places m 

^Nofonly'princes and soldiers, but scholars and poets assembled in the 



%44 Persons and Places in Europe. 

halls of ancient Tara where the harp "the soul of music shed," for there 
were noted schools of learning then in Ireland where philosophy, astronomy, 
medicine, history and poetry were taught to pupils from far and near. 

But not even the walls of Tara, where the harp so long hung mute, are 
now remaining. A tradition says that the place was cursed in the year 
563 by a saint who was displeased with the king, and after that it was 
deserted. The buildings either crumbled entirely or were destroyed. 

Ireland's Haep. — The ancient harps of Ireland have also passed away, 
excepting perhaps a few that may still be found in the cabinets of the 
curious. There is one called Brian Boroimhes harp in the nmseum at Dublin, 
said to be the oldest Irish harp in Europe. It is beautifully carved and 
ornamented, showing that music was not the only art in which the people 
were skilled. 

The harp has long been the favorite musical instrument of Ireland; it 
used to be represented upon her national arms, and there are yet those who 
can remember the time when a very old harper, the last of his race, used to 
go through the country from house to house bending beneath the load of 
his heavy instrument. 

He used to play with a peculiar eager expression upon his face, and with 
his head bent forward as if trying to catch from its strings strains of the 
old heroic measures he had heard in former days. But as if the calamities 
of the country had touched the strings of its national instrument, the music 
it gave out was only sad and mournful. Says the poet, 

" So oft hast thou echoed the deep sigh of sadness, 
That e'en in thy mirth it will steal from thee still." 

The Irish are still fond of music; they sing when they are happy because 
they cannot help it, and when they are miserable to lighten their sorrows; 
but as some one has said, the mingling of the wild and the beautiful of 
gloom and sunshine, of tears and smiles, which marks the scenery, the 
climate and the history of Ireland, has impressed itself upon the character 
of her music which, while thrilling with exquisite melody, awakens emotions 
of sadness. 

Saint Patrick at Tara. — One night in the olden times, while a great 
pagan festival was being held at Tara, the king and his attendants were 
startled by seeing a fire on the top of a hill near by. 

ISTow, it was well understood all over the land that on the night of this 
festival all fires were to be put out, and none to be lit until the great fire, 
which was the chief feature of the occasion, was seen blazing forth from the 



Ireland. 



145 



hill of Tara. Who could have dared to disobey this well known command ? 
In haste the king sent for the arch Druid, and the priest bent his eyes on 
the distant light. Presently he said, very solemly and emphatically, " 
king, if yonder fire be not put out 
this night it will never be quenched 
jn Erin." 

The person who had thus boldly 
disobeyed the law of the land was 
none other than Saint Patrick, who 
had come to Ireland to preach 
Christianity to the pagan people, 
and this night, being the eve of Eas- 
ter Sunday, he had lit a fire in ac- 
cordance with the commandment of 
the church. 

He was arrested and brought be- 
fore the king in all haste to answer 
for his audacious act, but he boldly 
told the king and the assembled 
princes and high priests that he had 
come to Erin on purpose to quench 
the fires of pagan sacrifice through- 
out the land, and to kindle in its 
place the flames of Christian faith. 

The king was amazed and not a 
little angry to hear this, but he in- 
vited Patrick to come to Tara the 
next day, and talk the matter over 
with the wise men of the country. 

The result was that many of 
those wise men were converted to 
the new religion, and the king, 
though not ready to quit the pagan 
worship himself, gave Patrick per- 
mission to go all through the land and preach. Many wonderful stories are 
told of the life and labors of the Saint, some of which are too wonderful to 
be believed; but the fact that Ireland was a pagan country when he entered 
it, and a Christian one when he died, shows how successful a preacher he was. 




ANCIENT ROUND TOWER. 



146 Persons and Places in Europe. 

After his death Ireland again became famous for her schools of learning, 
A great zeal for study spread through all the churches and monasteries 
Saint Patrick had founded, especially the one at Armagh, in Munster y 
which was resorted to by students from all over the continent. 

Blarney Castle. — The most perfect of Ireland's antiquities is a cluster 
of buildings on the rock of Cashel in Tipperary, consisting of a round tower, 
a cathedral, an abbey, a chapel and a palace, all joined together, though built 
at different periods, and all quite well preserved. But the most renowned 
is the Castle of Blarney near the city of Cork. Its fame has been caused by 
the tradition about the stone near its summit which, it is said, gives to who- 
ever kisses it the power of persuasive eloquence. He will be able to wheedle 
or coax people into doing whatever he wishes. But whoever would kiss 
the real Blarney stone must submit to the unpleasant operation of being 
suspended by the heels over the parapet of the tower, until his head is 
within reach of the stone. Most visitors content themselves with kissing a 
stone more easily reached. 

A reason for the curious tradition of the Blarney stone is found in a 
story about the Lord of Blarney and one of Queen Elizabeth's generals. 
During the war carried on at the time of her reign, Lord Carew, an English 
commander, agreed to a truce with Cormac McCarthy, lord of Blarney, on 
condition that the castle be surrendered into his hands. Bay after day 
went by and still the lord of Blarney held the castle. But whenever Carew 
sent to demand its instant submission McCarthey put him off with flatter- 
ing speeches, plausible excuses, and fair promises. At last the poor 
general became the laughing stock of Elizabeth's court for being so duped 
by the lord of Blarney, and " blarney " became the term applied to all such 
smooth speeches in after time. 

The old castle is now covered to the top of its tower with masses of ivy 
that hide the mouldering walls and the huge gaps made in it by Cromwell's 
cannon. 

Near the castle is the famous " groves of Blarney " where, according to 
the poet Milliken, there used to be a " cave where no daylight enters," a 
" lake well stored with fishes " and a " sweet rock-close." The lake is still 
said to contain treasures of wealth, which the last earl of Blarney cast 
into it, and which are to lie there until a McCarthy is again lord of Blarney. 
The secret of the hiding place he told to three of the McCarthys, who were 
only to tell it at their death to another member of the family until the time 
for revealing it came. 



Ireland. 



147 



Briaw, King of the Tributes.— It was in the vicinity of Blarney castle 
that Ireland's troubles began, but the first link in the chain of evils was a 




SAINT PATRICK GOING TO TARA. 



piece of great good fortune very different from the events to which 
it led. 



148 Persons and Places in Europe. 

The piratical vikings from Denmark paid Ireland a visit in the course of 
their ravages, but they found here a second Alfred in the warlike Brian, king 
of Munster. 

At the beginning of the conflict Brian was only an under-king, subject to 
the high-king, Malachy, with whom he joined his forces. 

It seems to have been a case of Saul and David, for while the king slew 
his thousands Brian slew his ten thousand. The Danes were vanquished, 
but they feared only Brian. They agreed to pay tribute to him, but not to 
the high king Malachy. This made Brian ambitious, and he announced 
himself as high-king of Erin. 

King Malachy made but little attempt to hold the throne against Brian. 
Seeing that a struggle would bring a disastrous war upon the land he, like 
a true patriot, yielded up his own rights for the welfare of his country. 

Brian made a good king, although he exacted almost as heavy tributes 
from his vassal kings as he had from the Danes. The five years of his 
reign are considered the most glorious in the history of Ireland. The whole 
country was wisely governed, and everybody dwelt without being disturbed 
either by their neighbors or foreign foes. The Danes kept within their 
fortified cities, and paid their tribute regularly. Many improvements were 
made in the condition of the people, one was that everybody added the 
name of his clan to that of his own, putting before it " Mac " for son, and 
" " for grandson. 

When Brian had become an old man the Danes arose again and made a 
great effort to conquer Ireland. In all the surrounding lands they had been 
victorious and they now determined to make a mighty effort for the con- 
quest of Ireland. From all around they gathered, from Denmark the 
"faderland" and from England, Scotland and the Orkney's where they had 
settled colonies, to assist those already in Ireland in making one grand 
struggle. 

Brian gathered and prepared his warriors, and the battle took place at 
Clontarf , near Dublin, April 23rd, 1014, a little more than fifty-two years 
before the Norman conquest of England. 

Just before the battle Brian rode along the lines with a sword in one hand 
and a crucifix in the other, and with his white hair floating in the wind ex- 
horted his soldiers to fight as they never had before. It was now their re- 
ligion and their country against paganism and bondage. He begged them 
to resolve, as he had, to win or die in the struggle; both he and his sons and 
grandsons were all there, ready to risk their all in the fight. He reminded 



Ireland. 



149 



tliem of the savage cruelties these barbarians had inflicted upon their coun- 
trymen, how they had profaned the altars and murdered even the priests. 
Then raising the crucifix on high he prayed that God would strengthen their 
arms in a cause so just and holy. 

When he ceased speaking the whole army raised a deafening shout and 
demanded to be led at once against their foes. The old man placed himself 
at their head ready to lead, but his sons and all the princes besought him 
not to go into the battle at his age, but to give the command to his eldest son. 
After much persuasion he consented, and retired to his tent to pray, while 
the battle went on. Most 
fiercely did it rage all day 
until on each side there 
was hardly a leader left. 
Brian's son performed the 
most heroic deeds, but in 
the afternoon he was slain, 
just as the tide of battle 
was turning in favor of 
the Irish. All of Brian's 
other sons perished also. 
and even the young grand- 
son, only fifteen years of 
age was found dead with 
his hand still grasping the 
hair of a Dane whom he 
had killed. Saddest of all 
the aged Brian himself, 
while praying in his tent 
was slain by a Dane who 
had made his way thither 

from the field. But none of these calamities made the Irish soldiers waver. 
They paused for nothing until the Danes were beaten back. 

It has been said that the sun of Ireland set in a flash of glory, meaning 
that the brilliant victory at Clontarf closed her career of greatness. After 
Brian's death king Malachy again became high-king and for eight years the 
country continued to prosper. But when he died civil wars began. 

Brian had set a bad example in taking the government away from a good 
king and all the ambitious princes were not slow in following it after 




BLARNEY CASTLE. 



150 Persons and Places in Europe. 

Malachy's death. For more than a hundred years they strove and fought 
with each other, sacrificing their country's good for their own selfish aims, 
and thus prepared the way for Henry II. of England to step in as a peace- 
maker and afterward demand their allegiance in return for his services. 

A Transplanted Nation. — When the Irish, after a struggle of four 
hundred years, had been compelled to submit to the English, afresh calamity 
befell them. The English as a nation became Protestants, while the Irish 
remained Catholics. Bitter hatred sprang up between the two sects and the 
English determined to put an end to Catholicism in Ireland. The Irish rose 
again and battled for their faith as heroically as they had for their independ- 
ence, but they were defeated. Elizabeth took away the lands of their most 
gallant defenders and gave them to her English favorites. Nearly the whole 
province of Munster was " planted " in this way by English earls and barons, 
and a few years afterward James the First planted Ulster in the same way. 
This roused fresh rebellions and Cromwell was sent over to reduce the Irish 
to submission and to convert them to Protestantism. He took with him for 
the purpose a large supply of Bibles, ammunition, and scythes. Those who 
refused to be converted were killed ; and those who escaped being killed 
were starved into submission by the loss of their crops which were cut down 
with the scythes. 

After conquering the men in battle and murdering women and children 
in cold blood, Cromwell followed the example of Elizabeth and James and 
"planted' ' colonies . Having seized the government of England and killed the 
king, he had the provinces of Ulster and Munster to replant with his own 
friends, and Leinster to plant new. The remaining one, Connaught, which 
was almost barren served as a prison for the dispossessed people whom he 
could not otherwise dispose of. 

In April, 1654, the work of " transplanting" began. Toward the sea- 
ports moved a procession of over forty thousand men going into exile in 
Spain. Following it was another procession of young boys and girls ten 
and twelve years of age who had been torn from their mothers' arms 
by bands of soldiers, going into slavery on the tobacco plantations of the 
West Indies. Toward the west streamed another procession of aged men 
and heart-broken women, stripped of their homes and their loved ones and 
carrying with them into barren Connaught all they had left in the world. 

The cause of all this cruel persecution is to be looked for, not in England 
or Ireland, but away in Spain where the sullen fanatical Philip started the 
fierce fires of persecution against the "heretics." It was the inquisition in 



Ireland. 



151 



the Netherlands, the massa- 
cre of St. Bartholomew, and 
the burning stake set up by 
Mary, the wife of Philip in 
England, that infuriated the 
English against the Catholic 
church and made them 
think that they were doing 
the Lord service when they 
tried to banish it from Ire- 
land. They forgot that the 
Lord they pretended to serve 
did not come to conquer by 
the sword. 

The Emancipator. — 
About a hundred and fifty 
years after Cromwell' s cruel- 
ties at Drogheda and Wex- 
ford, there arose in Ireland 
a man who was able to 
lighten somewhat the bur- 
den that still rested upon his 
Catholic countrymen. A 
full account of his life is 
necessary to give one a 
clear idea of the difficulties 
which he had to meet, but a 
few scenes show how he ac- 
complished much good. 

First we see him as a 
young lawyer, pouring over 
law papers in his dimly 
lighted study for hours be- 
fore dawn. He needs to 
make more than ordinary 
efforts, for he belongs to the 
despised Catholics, and the 
courts are in the hands of 




OLIVER CROMWELL 



152 Persons and Places in Europe. 

Protestant judges, who favor the lawyers of their creed, and allow the juiy 
boxes to be packed with those who will decide according to their wishes. 

There is little chance for a Catholic lawyer to win. He must have more 
than ordinary knowledge of the law, and he must be quick and sharp to 
detect and expose the trickeries of an unjust court. So O'Connell spends 
hours that he needs for sleep in mastering his case and points in the law. 

Then we see him in the court-room. Several Irish noblemen have been 
accused of conspiracy against the government in order that their estates 
may be taken from them. Many witnesses have testified to their good 
character. Nothing has been proved against them ; but the jury has been 
" packed " and there i£ no hope for the victims unless O'Connell can come 
to plead their case. 

A messenger has been sent in haste, and O'Connell has come without 
waiting to eat. He has a lunch brought into the court-room that he may 
breakfast while Avaiting for his turn to speak, and not miss what the 
other side is pleading. 

In the midst of his lunch, he interrupts the lawyer on the other side, 
"That is not according to law," he says with his mouth full. The judge is 
obliged to admit that O'Connell is right. This embarrasses the lawyer, and 
he makes a ridiculous blunder. O'Connell quickly points it out, and raises 
a hearty laugh at the speaker's expense. 

Then O'Connell's turn comes. He rises, and with a few keen words 
shows the falseness of the accusation, the baseness of the conspiracy, and 
the accused are set free. 

Follow him again in the evening. His work in the court-room is over 
and he has gathered a company of his countrymen to talk with them about 
the deplorable condition of Ireland, and of what can be done for her relief. 
He makes their blood boil by pictures of fresh abuses and rouses them to 
a high pitch of enthusiasm. He says the Catholics must be given equal 
privileges with the Protestants, and he says the law carrying the Irish par- 
liament to London must be repealed and national parliament brought back 
to Dublin. "But,"he says, "it must be done without costing a single drop 
of blood. That is too great a price to pay for any social reform." 

He says the way to bring it about is by their votes. When the English 
see that the whole nation is united in voting for men of their own choice 
they will not dare to deny Catholics the right of holding office. The peo- 
ple listened to their great leader. His stirring appeals aroused the whole 
nation and when election day came they voted as they pleased even at the 




DANIEL O'CONNELL. 



154 Persons and Places in Europe. 

risk of being turned out of their homes by their landlords. O'Connell 
was elected to a seat in Parliament. But now another difficulty arose. Be- 
fore a new member could take his seat in the House he must swear to an 
oath which among other things compelled him to deny the chief doctrines 
of the Catholic creed. When it came O'Connell's turn to be sworn he re- 
peated that part of the oath in a loud voice so that all could hear. Then 
he said that some of these statements he knew to be false, and the rest he 
did not believe were true and therefore it would be impossible for him to 
take the oath. Of course he could not take his seat, but his manly bearing 
made a profound impression, and people began to think about changing the 
oath. 

Another election was declared for Clair county, but again O'Connell was 
elected by a larger majority than at first. The English saw there would be 
serious trouble unless O'Connell was permitted to take his seat in Parlia- 
ment. Finally they made out an " emancipation " bill giving Catholics the 
right to hold office. There was great opposition to passing this bill and 
it is said that when it was taken to King George to sign he broke his pen to 
pieces and stamped upon it in his rage. But he saw that it must be signed, 
and so the Catholic Emancipation bill became a law. O'Connell had gained 
a great victory, and gained it as he said he would, without shedding a drop 
of blood. 

But there was still another measure to be won before Irish affairs could 
be much improved. They must have a Parliament of their own at Dublin 
for the regulation of home affairs. 

Again we see O'Connell on the hillside speaking to a great throng of 
people. He is their idol now and they gather from far and near to hear 
him. At day -break on Sunday morning they may be seen coming in 
groups to the place of meeting and kneeling on the greensward around 
their priests while the incense rises from a hundred rude altars and the 
solemn music of the mass floats out over the hillside. 

Presently O'Connell comes to take his seat upon the platform and the 
great throng bursts out in enthusiastic cheers. But when he rises to speak 
every lip is still. Perfect silence reigns throughout the great multitude. 
The good order is considered marvelous, and the English officers watch in 
vain for any cause for arrests. But the people are under the influence of a 
master mind, and confidence in their leader makes them calm. 

But he has difficult material to manage sometimes. There are young 
patriots in his audience who are burning with eagerness to fight for what 



Ireland. 155 

they want. To them O'Oonnell says, "Is it by force or violence that I shall 
gain this victory dear above every earthly consideration? No, perish the 
thought forever! I will do it by legal, peaceable, and constitutional means 
a l one _by the electricity of public opinion, by the moral combination of 
good men, and by the enrollment of four millions of repealers." 

But O'Connell was not allowed to finish his worl^. He was seized and 
imprisoned in spite of his care to do nothing against the law, and the object 
for which he labored has not yet been accomplished. But England has 
now a "grand old man" who is ashamed of the long course of dishonor his 
country has pursued toward Ireland, and is trying to obtain for it by 
constitutional means a Home Parliament at Dublin. 

The Wearing of the Green. — It has not been possible for some of 
Ireland's eager patriots to follow O'Connell' s advice and refrain from fight- 
ing. They have hoped to compel the English to yield to their wishes by 
the force of arms, by secret plots, and by various other means that the 
great agitator denounced. He saw that it would only make matters worse, 
and it has. Many devoted lives have gone out on the scaffold for heading 
insurrections, and the whole country has suffered from the harsh measures 
that have been used to prevent further uprisings. 

The world has seldom seen a more touching and peaceable protest against 
oppression than took place one cold December day in the city of Dublin. 
Men, women and children came from all the country round to join in a great 
funeral procession in honor of their countrymen who had been put to 
death by the government. 

At eleven o' clock the ranks began to form and for hours the people 
marched through mud and rain; women in silks and women in calico, 
young children, and men of all ages. First in the lines came a company of 
five hundred respectably-dressed citizens, each man wearing on his left 
shoulder a green rosette and on his left arm a band of crape. Some had 
crape and green ribbons around their hats, or a broad green scarf around 
their shoulders, with shamrocks or a harp embroidered upon it. 

Behind the five hundred came a couple of thousand of young children 
trudging manfully through the cold storms and the mud, and after the chil- 
dren a hundred young women. Then followed a company of elderly men, 
another of bricklayers all wearing green caps, and another of young men 
wearing crape hat-bands and green rosettes with harps in the centre. There 
were between four and five thousand of these. Next came about two 
thousand young women each one wearing some article of green, either a 



156 Persons and Places in Europe. 

shawl, bonnet, veil, dress or mantle. On all of these the rain kept pouring 
down and the mud was deep enough to have discouraged all ordinary 
patriotism, but not these young Irish women. 

At some distance from the head of the procession came the three empty 
hearses each bearing the name of one of the martyrs whose bodies had been 
buried in dishonor in Manchester. Bands proceeded and followed each 
hearse, playing the dead march, and crowds of citizens lining the streets 
reverently lifting their hats as the hearses passed by. 

The line of march led by the scaffold where Emmet was executed and the 
statue of O'Connell, at each of which the bands ceased playing and all 
marched by in silence with uncovered heads. 

At the cemetery one of the leading men made a stirring address on the 
condition of Ireland, the death of their countrymen, and the object of the 
funeral procession ; but he urged them to refrain from any disorderly out- 
breaks and to go quietly to their homes, which they did. 

Similar processions were arranged for other parts of Ireland, but they 
were prevented from being held by the English authorites, who feared that 
this wearing of the green would cause more insurrections. 

The Famine.— While other lands are teeming with industry, humming 
with factories and covered with nourishing farms, Ireland is full of idleness, 
miserable shanties and want. The owner of a large estate, who is usually an 
English lord, lets out little patches to the Irish peasant at a price which 
would buy the same amount of land in America, and the tenant plants his 
little strip with potatoes, as that will furnish him with the largest quantity 
of food that can be raised on such a small space. When harvest time comes 
he must pay the rent before he can gather his crop. To raise this is the 
great struggle. He must often sell his pigs and cows before he can dig his 
potatoes, and should these turn out bad there is nothing between him and 
starvation. If his neighbors happen to be a little better off he can beg or 
borrow, but when, as was the case in 1847, everybody's potatoes are bad, then 
there is no hope. 

For several years before this terrible time known as " the famine" the 
potato crop had been a failure, but this year there came a sudden blight 
upon all in the island. At first the people did not realize the terrible 
calamity that had befallen them, but it was not long before a despairing cry 
for bread arose. From every miserable, damp, unhealthy hovel the last 
article of furniture and clothing was sold to buy food, and when all was gone 
sickness and fever followed fast. 



Ireland. 



157 



The 
almost 
off by hundreds. Poor weak wretches dropped 



living were too weak to bury their dead, and decaying corpses in 
every hovel caused an outbreak of fever which carried the survivors 

dead in the streets ; half 
naked bodies lay 
unburied by the 
roadside, the market 
places were piled 
with coffined corpses 
which there was no 
one to bury. 

Mothers carried 




their dead infants about in 
their arms in the hope of ob- 
taining a little charity from 
those who had plenty; for 
there were those in Ireland 
who had enough and to 
spare in the midst of all this 
wretchedness, and the suffer- 
ing was increased by many a 
heartless landlord who seized 
what might have been sold for 
bread to make sure of his 
rents. 

A gentleman who went to 
Ireland at the time to dis- 
tribute food met one day two 
men driving several gaunt cows 
toward Letterbrick, and behind them the sorrowful half-starved owners. He 
inquired the trouble and was told that the cows were being taken to the 



158 Persons and Places in Europe. 

pound to be sold for rent, which the owners declared was not due till May; 
but the landlord said if he did not make sure of it the people would sell 
the cows and be off to America leaving the rent unpaid. 

As the news of Ireland's terrible distress spread abroad people every- 
where sent relief as fast as possible. Private individuals and associations 
gave money; a cargo of food was sent from the United States; and the Eng- 
lish government made several large appropriations, amounting in all to ten 
millions of pounds. Seed too for another year was sent, and Ireland 
rose again from her affliction to carry on her struggle for existence. 

The Linen Trade.— More than a quarter of a million of people in the 
north of Ireland depend in some way or another upon the manufacture of 
linen, which was started there during the reign of Charles I. Fleets of 
coasters are occupied all the year round in carrying coals from the opposite 
shore of Great Britan for the use of the factories and bleach works; thousands 
of iron founders and engineers are working constantly at the construction and 
repair of machinery. Blacksmiths, tinsmiths, turners and carpenters are 
kept ever busy in furnishing the small articles needed. It is the linen manu- 
factories that gives life and industry to the north of Ireland. 

For many years the spinning and weaving and bleaching used to go on 
among the cottagers all around the great towns, but now the little whirring 
spinning wheels that used to enliven the firesides of Ulster are hushed, and 
the girls go into the great factories to superintend machines that do the 
work of hundreds of hand spinners. The bleaching too is now carried 
on by wholesale, and rapidly in large houses. Chemistry has stepped 
in and shown how the process may be greatly hastened. A piece of raw 
linen can now be bleached and made ready for market in twenty-four hours. 
Belfast is nearly surrounded by bleaching greens where strips of white linen 
are stretched upon the green grass making a very pretty picture. By using 
different kinds of chemicals a variety of shades can be produced according 
to the taste of the customers, for in linen,as in everything else,tastes differ. 
Some want a blue white, some a pink white,some pearl,snow,or dead white, 
some want it put up in plain packages, some in decorated ones. The Eng- 
lish buyers want the very best quality of linen put up without fancy orna- 
ments on the packages. Decorations arouse the suspicions of their custo- 
mers in regard to the quality. A large packing house in Belfast once made 
the mistake of sending to a London linen-draper a bale of linen each piece 
of which bore a trifling ornament on the outside. The London men at once 
demanded a deduction on the amount of his bill because of the ornamented 



Ireland. 



159 



linen He had not dared to offer it to his customers and had to repack it 

and dispose ot it as 
best he could. The 
Americans on the 
other hand want their 
linen done up in papers 
of the gayest colors to 
make it look attract- 




VIEWS IN BELFAST : PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE. METHODIST COLLEGE. QUEEN'S BRIDGE. 



CHAPTER VII. 



SCOTLAND. 

Scotland is the land of poetry and romance. It is also a land of wild 
glens, rugged mountains, blue haze and purple heather, all beautiful and 
charming, but their chief charm lies in the glamor of romance that has been 
thrown around them by story-tellers. Each loch, glen, and cave echoes with 
the tales of Highland Chief and Lowland warrior told by poet and minstrel 
from the days of Ossian, bard of Morven, to those of the great " Magician 
of the North " and the sweet singer of " Bonnie Doon." 

The Great Glen. — Many pointed bays cut the coast of Scotland into 
jagged fragments ; the four larger ones making great inroads into the land. 
Between the two northernmost, Murray Firth on the east and Firth of 
Lorn on the west, runs a great natural gap, which looks as if some gigantic 
Titan had split the mountains apart. A large part of this gap is the bed of 
Loch Ness and a few smaller lakes, and the hand of man has finished the 
work of the Titans by digging out the rest of the gap for the Caledonian 
canal, which connects all the lakes and forms a continuous passage from the 
North sea to the Atlantic. 

Along this course lies some of the wildest glen scenery in Scotland . Lake 
Ness, a long, narrow body of water, is here shut in by wooded shores and steep 
hills rising upon either side in bold lofty swells. The water of this lake is so 
deep that it never freezes ; all winter, vapor rises from its surface and this has 
given rise to a belief that it rests upon a bed of fire. When the great earth- 
quake occurred in Lisbon in 1755 the waters of this little lake tumbled about 
in the greatest confusion showing that it had some secret connection with 
the mysterious depths below. 

Lake Locky, just below Lake Ness, is not quite half so long but its hills 
are loftier and rise more perpendicularly from the water. On its western 
shores lie the lands once owned by Donald Cameron, Chief of Lochiel, who, 
in Campbell's poem is warned by the wizard not to join Charles Edward 



Scotland. 



161 



.•against the English. At the southern extremity of the great gap stands 
Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Great Britain. 

Glenco.— Just south of Ben Nevis, branching off from an arm of Loch 
linne, is a wild little" vale called Glenco. It is a most rugged and beautiful 
spot, at one extremity fertile and well wooded, at the other rocky and bar- 
ren. The wildest portion is near the center where rises a mountain three 
thousand feet high, composed of perpendicular belts of dark cliffs piled one 
upon another until the top is lost to sight. Under the base of this moun- 
tain and overhung by its crags lies a small lake, the headwaters of the 
dashing Cona, upon whose banks the poet Ossian was born. 

This grand but gloomy pass is now nearly without inhabitants. Wild 
eagles scream from the topmost crags, and 
goats climb about the rocks where once the 
powerful clan of the MacDonalds lived, peo- 
pling the glen with hardy life and simple 
happiness . But one of the darkest deeds in 
human history put an end to their happi- 
ness. When king William came from Hol- 
land to rule over Great Britan, some of the 
Scottish chiefs still held faithful to James 
II., who had been deprived of his throne. 
They said they had no dislike for William, 
tout they considered James the rightful 
king. William first tried to buy and then 
to threaten the rebellious chiefs into sub- 
mission. Some yielded, others stood out 
still. Among the last was Maclan, chief of 
ihe MacDonalds of Glenco. 

At last a proclamation was sent out by the king saying that unless the 
chiefs signed a paper declaring their fealty to him before the first of Janu- 
ary (1691), they would be punished with fire and sword. Maclan at first paid 
no attention to this, but finding that all of the other chiefs were giving in 
he at last, just a few days before the time had expired went to Colonel 
Hill, the governor of Fort William, to take his oath of allegiance. But this 
man he found had no right to receive the oath, and he must go to the Sheriff 
of Argyleshire at Inverary. This was some distance away, and though he 
hurried as fast as he could through stony and almost impassable roads, it 
was three or four days after the first of January before he reached the 
sheriff's house. 




A FAMILIAR BIT OF EDINBURG 
WEATHER. 



162 Persons and Places in Europe. 

He presented to the sheriff a letter which Colonel Hill had given him ex- 
plaining the delay, was allowed to take the oath and went home thinking 
that all wonld be well. 

But Maclan had an enemy who had been watching for just this oppor- 
tunity of striking a blow. This enemy was the powerful Lord of Stair, who 
had a great deal of influence with King William. By representing the Mac- 
Donald's as a most turbulent and troublesome people, and withholding, some 
say, from the king the knowledge of Maclan' s late compliance with the 
proclamation, he obtained the king's signature to an order for the complete 
destruction of the whole clan. 

The master of Stair sent the paper to Colonel Hill with orders to see 
that it was strictly carried out, and much as that officer would like to 
have saved the Highlanders he dared not disobey. A regiment was sent to 
the glen with additional directions from the cruel Stair, telling how to pro- 
ceed so as to prevent suspicion until the passes were all secured that none 
could escape and then the orders were to put to death all under seventy, 
and not to trouble the government with prisoners . 

At four o'clock in the morning of the thirteenth of February the terri- 
ble work began and was carried on as mercilessly as the master of Stair could 
wish, but a heavy fall of snow had prevented one body of troops from 
reaching the eastern passes and through these a few of the people escaped 
from their burning huts and savage foes. Half- naked they fled through 
the snow on the cold winter morning and many sunk to rise no more. But 
the weather was less pitiless than their terrible persecutors , and about a 
hundred and fifty men, women and children reached a place of safety. 

The Meist oe Moeven — At the southern extremity of the great glen, 
northeast of the Island of Mull from which it is separated by a narrow 
sound, lies the land of Morven, celebrated in the songs of Ossian. This 
land, now a part of Argyle, was once invaded by the Norwegians who had 
conquered the Orkneys, the Hebrides, and made several conquests in the 
north of Scotland. 

There was living in one of the wild caves of Morven at the time a Scottish 
chief by the name of Somerled, who was urged by his followers to drive out 
the Norwegians. 

He knew it would be useless to attempt this in open fight with his small 
force, so he planned a stratagem. He ordered a herd of cattle that were 
quietly pasturing in the valley to be slain and skinned, and with only this 
preparation awaited the approach of the Norsemen. " As soon as he saw 



Scotland. 



163 



a portion of the foo in motion lie caused his men to march several times 
round the hill where they lay descending each time into a small glen under- 
neath, from which, unknown to the foe was a path leading to the summit 
on the other side. 

When they appeared again on the top of the hill, the enemy took them 
for fresh forces. And to strengthen this impression, and add more terror 




to their appearance, Somerled had them, 
after they had gone around once or twice, 
put on the cows hides changing the position and manner of wearing 
them after each round. 

The trick was a success. The Norse, thinking that a whole army of Scots 
was preparing to attack them, they fell into a panic, and while the confu- 
sion lasted Somerled made a furious charge with his little band and completed 
the route. 

Two of the Norse leaders were killed, and the third finding himself closely 
pursued, leaped into a boiling torrent. The place is still called " Leap of the 



164 Persons and Places in Europe. 

Chief." In a short time Somerled drove the Northmen from Morven, and 
became Thane of Argyle. 

Fingal's Caye.— Just north of the entrance to the Firth of Lorn, at 
the southwestern extremity of the Great Glen is the island of Staff a, which 
contains the celebrated FingaPs cave. The whole island is full of caves, 
among which are the Scallopshell cave, and the Herdsman's cave ; but the 
wonderful one is the cave of Fingal, whose huge jointed columns of basalt are 
as regular as if hewn out with square and chisel ; its arched ceiling is like 
that of a great Gothic church, and the thundering of the waves as they roll 
in over the floor of the cave like the music of some huge organ. 

Fingal, after whom this cave is supposed to be named, was a famous 
hero whose deeds are celebrated in the songs of his son, the bard of Morven. 

Ossian was very proud of his father's valor, and his own too, for he was 
a warrior as well as a bard, and his songs are full of Fingal's praise and 
stories of his adventures. One is of an encounter Fingal once had with 
Starno, king of Lochlin. 

Fingal, then a young man, and his heroes had had an encounter 
Starno, a Scandinavian chief, and beaten him, the only time says the story 
that ever the mighty Starno had been overcome. After capturing him, 
Fingal had generously restored him to his ships, and he had gone home 
vowing vengeance. After a while this chief sent a very flattering invitation 
to Fingal to come to a Feast in his halls. 

He said Fingal was the fairest of warriors, and might marry his beautiful 
daughter, Agandecca. 

Fingal accepted the invitation, taking only a few of his heroes with him. 

Arrived at the hall of Starno the king proposed that they feast and hunt 
for three days before the wedding. Accordingly the following days were 
spent in hunting and in the evenings the harps were strung, and Fingal's 
bards praised the beauty of Starno 's daughter, as well as the deeds of their 
chief. On the third day Agandecca warned Fingal that her father was 
plotting to take his life, and that he must that day beware of the wood 
where the braves of Lochlin were hid. 

Fingal went on apparently the same as ever, his heroes by his side, but 
they were ready for the attack, and when it came had no trouble in over- 
coming the men of Starno. Then " the king's dark brows were like clouds. 
His eyes like meteors of night. ' Bring hither,' he cried, ' Agendecca to her 
lovely king of Morven ! his hand is stained with the blood of my people ; 
her words have not been in vain.' " ! 



Scotland. 



165 



" She came," says Ossian, " with the red eye of tears, with loosely flow- 
ing locks. Starno pierced her side with steel. She fell like a wreath of 
snow which slides from the rocks of Ronan. 

" Then Fingal eyed his valiant chiefs ; his valiant chiefs took arms. The 
gloom of battle roared ; Lochlin fled or died. Pale, in his bounding ship, 
Fingal took the maid. Her tomb ascends on Ardven ; the sea roars round 
her narrow dwelling." 

The Clan Tartans.— The days of the Scottish clans are gone. No more 
the whistle of the chief, or 
the clang of his "bossy 
shield " calls his warriors 
abont him to battle. His 
bonnet, plaid, and kilt- 
skirt have been laid aside 
for the hat, coat, and 
tronsers of civilized En- 
rope ; though occasion- 
ally, in remote glens, 
one may still see a High- 
lander in full dress, bare • 
knees, heavy leather 
purse and all. 

Some who have 
adopted the new style of 
dress still make their 
clothes out of the old 
clan tartans, which in 
other days distinguished 
one band from another. 
The pattern of these tar- 
tans, the breadth and or- 
der, of the stripes, as well 
as their precise shade 
and color, were all established many hundred years ago and still remain 
unaltered. The tribe distinction is still kept up though the clans are no 
longer in existence. The people still cherish the traditions, memories, and 
patriotic sentiments that the stripes of the Tartan once signified. It is 
said that the sight of his clan tartan in a foreign land will at once raise 
painful longings in the heart of a Scotchman. 




HIGHLANDER PERFORMING THE NATIONAL DANCE. 



166 Persons and Places in Europe. 

Once there were no tartans except those appropriated by the particular 
clans for which they were originated, but now patterns are being invented 
and named after distinguished modern families. These are called fancy 
tartans in distinction from the old historic clan- tartans . 

Some of the old patterns were very simple, that of the Macgregors, of 
whom Scott writes in " Rob Roy," was merely two red and black stripes of 
equal width crossing each other in regular order. The tartan of the Stuart 
clan was very complicated ; the ground work was royal purple crossed with 
yellow, black, blue and green stripes woven in a very intricate manner. The 
shepherd's tartan is a black and white check. 

The plaid is still a favorite garment. It is so " handy " the people say ; 
it is easily carried, thrown over the shoulder, and when needed can be 
wrapped about whatever part the cold strikes. 

The Dkoveks' Depaktuke. — The Highlanders still assemble every year, 
and march down into England, but now it is to follow their droves of cattle 
to market, instead of their chiefs to battle. At the time appointed each 
owner of a herd sends the cattle he wishes to sell to the place of meeting in 
charge of a herdsman. 

When the drove is all made up they start away for the long journey to 
the south. One of the men who knows all the ■ roads through the wildest 
regions is chosen captain of the company or " topsman," and is paid a good 
price by the owners of the cattle for taking charge of the drove. He directs 
all the movements, transacts all the business, and is responsible for all losses. 

The day when such a drove is to take its departure for the south is 
one of great importance in all the hills and glens of the neighborhood. 

Landseer, the famous animal painter, has made a picture of the scene 
presented at such a time. It represents a young " topsman" taking leave of 
his family while the advanced divisons of the drove are moving off in the 
direction they are to take, with their drovers walking soberly after them. 

The chief figure in the picture is that of the " Topsman" who in full 
traveling costume, his kilt on, his plaid over his shoulder, his sandals on 
his feet, and the "blue bonnet" on his head stands with his little son in his 
arms just outside the door of his cot. His wife is busy preparing his bot- 
tles for the journey, his old father, bent and wrinkled, has come out and 
sat down by the door to see him off. A young woman, an unmarried sister 
apparently, is wrapping a plaid about the old man to protect him from the 
sharp mountain air as he takes another look at the scene he has witnessed 
so often in his younger days. Farther back another bonnie lassie is saying 



Scotland. 



167 



good-bye to a great strong " laddie." All around are the cattle that have 
not yet joined in the long line moving off toward the dark range of the 
Scotch highlands in the distance. 

The Firth of Clyde. — The boundary between the Highlands and the 
Lowlands, is marked by a second pair of arms extending into Scotland 
from the sea ; on the east the Firth of Forth, the highway to Edinburgh, 




GLASGOW. 



the city of art and literature ; on the west the Firth of Clyde leading to 
Glasgow, the city of trade and industry. The river Clyde, on which this 
great city stands, was only a narrow shallow stream at the beginning of the 
present century, but as the manufactories sprang up and trade grew the 
river was dredged until it can now admit large ships as far as Glasgow. 
Now the water fairly swarms with laden vessels, and with new ones just 
launched from the many dock-yards along its banks. More than a hundred 
large steamers can be counted in these yards at onetime, some showing only 



168 Persons and Places in Europe. 

the frame work, like great skeletons, others all finished waiting to be 
painted, others ready to be launched. 

And not only is the Clyde the birth-place of the great Cunard and other 
steamers of modern times, but also of the first steamer ever used in 
European waters. Five years after Fulton's Clermont was completed in 
]S"ew York, the Comet, built by Henry Bell, was launched upon the Clyde. 

And not only this, but the steam engine itself here grew from a mere 
toy to a propelling power. It was on the bleaching green of Glasgow that 
James Watt was walking one Sunday afternoon when the idea he had 
been trying for months to find flashed into his head. He went home to 
work upon his model — the little toy engine — and in a short time it was 
ready to propel Fulton's boat. 

Ben Lomond. — Passing from the Clyde to the north by way of the short 
winding stream that connects it with Loch Lomond, the traveler soon comes 
out upon that prince of Scotland's lakes, surrounded by beautiful scenery 
and historic places. At its northern end rises the stately head of Ben 
Lomond, not as high as Ben Nevis, who guards the Great Glen, but more 
highly honored because he watches over the far-famed scenes of " the Lady 
of the Lake." 

Most of the time Ben Lomond keeps his head covered with a cap of mist, 
but occasionally he doffs it, and then, if one is fortunate enough to be on 
his summit a fine view may be enjoyed. At the foot of the mountain lies 
Loch Lomond, smooth as a sheet of glass, and although three thousand 
feet below, every island is perfectly distinct. On the east eight successive 
mountain chains may be seen rising each one higher than the last ; on the 
south the river Clyde and Dunbarton castle, farther on the ocean and the 
Isle of Arran. 

On the western side of Lomond are two celebrated caves, one of which 
once sheltered Scott's hero, Rob Roy, from the English; and the other, 
Robert Bruce, from the same enemies many years earlier. Only a short 
distance from Lomond is the narrow pass of Dairy, through which Bruce 
was passing with his men when the followers of the Lord of Lorn fell upon 
him. He had sent his men on ahead while he staid behind to guard the 
rear. Seeing him alone three of the Lorn men vowed that they would kill 
or capture him. All three, a father and his sons, rushed upon him, one seiz- 
ing his bridle and another his leg. 

With one blow of his sword he cut off the hand that grasped his rein. 
At the same time he gave his horse a stab with his spur, making it leap so 



sssiiiii 





LOCH LOMOND. 

that tlie man who had seized 
his leg was thrown under the 
horse, another blow of his pow- 
erful sword felled this second 
assailant just as the third 
grasped him by the mantle and 
held him so close that he conld 
not use his long sword. But 
a heavy hammer hung at his 
saddle bow and with this he 
struck his last enemy a death 
blow. The dying man, how- 
ever, did not loose his clasp on 
Bruce' s mantle, and not being 
able to wrench it away, Bruce undid the clasp and rode 
off without it to this cave, where he passed the night. 



170 Persons and Places in Europe. 

The descendants of the house of Lorn always kept this mantle as a tro~; 
phy, showing how nearly Robert Bruce came to being captured by their 
ancestors. 

Ellen's Isle. — It is doubtful if Sir Walter Scott imagined when writ- 
ing "The Lady of the Lake" that hundreds of people would go over the 
scene of his poem, guide book in hand, tracing out the very spots over which 
he took his characters. So real has he made all his story seem, that the 
sides of Ben Yoerlich, to the northeast of Loch Lomond, seem yet to 
echo with the bay of the hounds and the horn of huntsmen as they 
startled the noble stag from his heathery couch that bright morning. 
Eagerly the visitor follows the course of the stag to the Teith at whose 
flooded waters some of the huntsmen drew back, and to little lake Achray, 
just east of Loch Katrine where the poor animal thought it would find safety. 
Here the bristling crags of the Trosachs begin, whose heights were too 
much for Fitz James' gallant gray, and in whose deep glens the stag soon 
found a safe refuge from the panting hounds. 

The "thunder splintered pinnacles" of the Trosach astonish the passer- 
by as they did Fitz James, who often paused bewildered and amazed 
before he issued from the glen by climbing the "far projecting precipice" 
and saw Loch Katrine rolled out beneath him "in all her length far wind- 
ing." 

From this high rock, at the eastern extremity of the lake, one can see just 
such an island as the one from which the light skiff shot towards Fitz 
James in answer to his horn. 

To make the scene still more real a lady once built upon the rocky isle a 
rustic bower, such a one as Scott described the home of Ellen to be, but a 
careless visitor's cigar destroyed the pretty tribute to Sir Walter's genius. 

The usual route of the traveler lies from Loch Lomond to the western 
extremity of Loch Katrine and then by steamer to the eastern side, through 
the Trosachs and then on to Stirling. In going this way he passes "Ben 
Ledi's living side," where the armed host sprang up at Roderick' s signal, 
and again as quickly disappeared at a wave of their chieftain's hand, and 
further on at the end of the glen Coilantogle's ford where Fitz James laid 
the haughty chieftain low after the desperate fight. 

Stiklhstg Castle — The fiercest struggles in the history of Scotland have 
taken place in the vicinity of Stirling, just southeast of Loch Katrine. 
From the terrace of the high rock on which the castle stands twelve battle- 
fields may be seen. Lying as it does at the foot of the Highlands it has 








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172 • Persons and Places in Europe. 

formed the boundary line of invasion from the south. The rocky hiding 
places in the north offered sure retreats to the northern chieftains and dan-j 
gerous surprises to the southern invaders. Across this portion of the is-l 
land the Romans stretched their furthest wall of defense; here the Saxon J 
march was stayed, and here the English left many of their bravest sol] 
diers. 

Just above the town of Stirling, on Abbey Crag, William Wallace took 
up his camp and called his countrymen to resist the English. It was not 
long before their foes appeared on the southern side of the river and sent 
a pompous message offering pardon to all who would lay down their arms. 

"Go back to the Earl of Warren," said Wallace, "and tell him that we 
value not the pardon of the English king. We are not here to talk of peace, 
but to fight for the freedom of our country. Let the English come on, we 
defy them to their beards." 

The English came on, but when half had crossed the narrow bridge 
Wallace swept down upon them and drove into the river all who were not 
slain on the spot. 

Farther away to the southeast of Stirling lies Falkirk, where Wallace was 
sorely defeated the next year, deserted by the jealous Scottish nobility; but 
nearer by only about three miles from the Castle lies the glorious field of Ban- 
nockburn, where the persevering Bruce destroyed the flower of the English 
army and obtained the long desired freedom. 

The castle itself has been a bloody place. It was here that James II. of 
Scotland slew with his own hand the Earl of Douglas after inviting him 
there on a visit, in seeming friendliness. 

The Gudeman or Ballengiech — There are some pleasant scenes, as well 
as bloody ones connected with the old* castle of Stirling; one of these is the 
story of James V., the "Fitz James" of Scott's "Lady of the Lake." This 
king had a habit of going about the country in disguise in order to see 
more of the ways of his people than he could when appearing among them 
in his true character. 

When out upon these rambles he always called himself the, "Goodman 
of Ballengiech:" goodman meant a tenant, and Ballengiecli was the name 
of a steep pass down the rock at the back of Stirling Castle. Only a few 
of the nobility knew the secret of the Goodman of Ballengiech. 

One time when he was out alone he fell into a quarrel with some gypsies 
and four or five of them began to give him a beating. While he was de- 
fending himself as best he could with his sword a poor man who was thresh- 



Scotland. 



173 



ing corn in a barn near by came out and seeing one man beset by a number 
decided to take his part. So he went at the gypsies with his flail and they 
were soon obliged to leave. He then took the stranger into the barn, brought 
him a basin of water and a towel that he might wash the blood from his 
face, and when he was ready to go walked with him toward the castle. 

On the way James asked the man his name, and whether there was any- 
thing which he would par- 
ticularly like to have. The 
man said his name was John 
Howies on, that he was a 
bondsman on a farm that be- 
longed to the king of Scot- 
land, and that he should be 
perfectly happy if he owned 
the farm. John then in- 
quired of the stranger his 
name. James answered as 
usual that he was the Good- 
man of Ballengiech,who had 
some work to do about the 
palace and ended by inviting 
John to come and see him 
the following Sunday. 

On the day appointed 
John came dressed in his 
best. James had given or- 
ders that he should be ad- 
mitted and received him in 
the same dress he had worn 
when out on his journey. 
He showed John about the 

palace, and finally asked if he would like to see the king. John confessed 
that he should like nothing better, but feared the king would be offended. 
Assured that all would be right, he then wished to know how he should be 
able to tell the king from the nobles who would be around him. 

" Easily," said his companion, " all the others will be bareheaded, the king 
alone will keep his bonnet on." 

As they entered the hall John looked in vain for the king, everybody was 
bareheaded but himself and the Goodman of Ballengiech. 







MARY STUART. 



174 Persons and Places in Europe. 

I told you you would know Mm by his wearing Ms hat," said James, 
" Well then," said John, " it must be either you or me, for everybody else 
is bareheaded." 

James was much amused at this speech, but he gave the poor man a great 
pleasure in return, for he assured him that the farm he was working 
should be his on only one condition, that was that he should always 
have a basin of water for the king to wash his hands in when he came that 
way. 

Holyeood — Upon ■ the heights of Edinburgh stands the palace of Holy- 
rood begun by James Y., and completed during the reign of his daughter 
Mary Queen of Scots. It was here she passed the few years of her troubled 
reign before going to Elizabeth for protection and death. Her private room 
still remains just as she left it. The royal curtains about the bed are old 
and faded and the furniture rickety with age, but it will always be looked 
upon with great interest as long as the story of "the unfortunate queen" 
remains upon the page of history. Adjoining the palace is the abbey where 
she was married to Lord Darnley, and in one of the rooms she was at supper 
when her jealous husband entered with his ruffianly followers, seized her 
Italian priest and before her eyes stabbed him to death while he was begging 
her protection. 

In another room are the portraits of the kings of Scotland, and among 
them a portrait of Mary; it represents a proud but beautiful face, the ad- 
miration of all who behold it. 

A short distance from Holy rood Palace is the noted castle of Edinburgh, 
where occurred an event that put an end to the troubles between England 
and Scotland, the birth of Mary's son, James VI. He inherited the crowns 
of both countries, and thus effected what no force of arms could ever have 
done, the reunion of Scotland and England. Another room in the castle con- 
tains the now useless regalia of Scotland, the golden crown, the sceptre, and 
the sword, the cause of so many long years of misery and bloodshed. 

The Lay of The Last Minstrel. — Southeast of Edinburgh, on the 
Tweed, is a fine old abbey that was built by Robert Bruce after he became 
king of Scotland, and under which his heart is buried. This famous abbey 
of Melrose has long stood in ruins, its chancel open to the sky, its walls 
overgrown with ivy and its crumbling arches inhabited by rooks. Its great- 
est fame was received at the hands of Scott, who made it the scene of a 
passage in his " Lay of the Last Minstrel." Here he used to sit on one of 
the broken arches, while the moonlight streamed over the moss-covered 



Scotland. 



175 



ruin, and muse on the tales of the old minstrels until he was ready to pour 
forth his story about 
the last of the old bards 
and the Magic Book. 

All over Scotland, 
Ireland and England 
the bards were once 
great favorites. Every 
chief had one or more 
in his household, and 
the people used to wel- 
come to their firesides 
wandering ones who 
entertained the com- 
pany with many a song 
and jest after the even- 
ing meal. So popular 
were they in England 
during the reign of 
Henry V. that he took 
eighteen with him 
when he went to 
France, and paid them 
each twelve pence a 
day. 

After a while min- 
strels went out of fash- 
ion and long before Sir 
Walter's day they had 
come to be looked 
upon with contempt. 

This was owing no doubt to the unfit ones who entered 
the profession in its prosperous days for gain, and by be- 
coming mere jokers brought minstrelsy into disgrace. 
But Scott had a great admiration for the genuine bards 
of old. He hunted up all their old stories and from 
these poured out new ones that have enchanted the world 
ever since. It seems as if all the old poetic fire in 




ABBOTTSFORD. 




176 Persons and Places in Murope. 

the Scottish, bards before him was renewed in this the last one of their 
race. 

Scott's home at Abbottsford has been the Mecca of his admirers ever 
since the weary old writer left it. Here in his private study stands his 
desk with the inkstand still upon it, and the chair before it as though he 
he had but just gone out for a moment. It is with a feeling of reverence, 
almost awe, that one looks around this place where the noble old man 
labored until the pen dropped from his hand to pay the debt in which his 
dishonest partners had involved him. 

About half way between the ceiling and the floor is a small wire balcony 
running around the room and above it the walls are lined with books. A 
door opening from the balcony leads into the little bedroom from which he 
often came down at night and worked while the family slept. In a little 
closet where he kept his manuscript are the clothes he last wore, his cane, 
and his belt, to which a hammer, a small axe and his sword are attached. 

In rooms adjoining the study are many curious old relics collected by him 
from all parts of the world, besides costly presents from kings and nobles, 
and some fine paintings. Among the antiquities are old suits of armor, in- 
struments of torture, Rob Roy's gun and purse, Napoleon's writing case, 
and the offering box of Queen Mary; also an amusing pen and ink sketch of 
Queen Elizabeth dancing the Highland Fling when sixty years of age. 

Scotland may well be proud of her " Magician of the North," he has 
covered her glens and mountains with subtle charms and made the name 
of Scotchman a passport into good favor wherever he goes. 

The Field of Cttllode:n\ — Poetic genius has made famous a spot in 
the^ north of Scotland near the coast of Murray Firth. It was the scene of 
a great battle, but this did not give it the interest that the poet Campbell 
gave it when he wrote " Lochiel's Warning." The " field of the dead " that 
the old wizard saw in his prophetic vision was Culloden moor, near Murray 
Firth, a short distance northeast of Inverness. 

Charles Edward Stuart, a grandson of James II., came to Scotland to 
ask the chiefs to help make his father, the son of the dethroned James, king 
of England. The Highlanders, who had always taken the part of the 
Stuarts, rose around the young prince with something of the old enthus- 
iasm with which their ancestors had followed Bruce and Wallace in days 
gone by. 

On they went to Edinburgh and defeated the English at Preston-Pans. 
In thirteen days they had taken Carlisle, Penrith, Kendall, Lancaster, Man- 



Scotland. 



Ill 



■Chester and Derby. The people of London were wild with terror, many col- 
lected their property and left the city. "Vessels were ready to carry the 
kino- to Hanover. The Dnke of Newcastle, the prime minister, shnt himself 
np in his room for two days to determine whether he should stand by King 
Georo-e or declare for James, so certain did it seem that the exiled King- 
would win. 

But the powerful Duke of Cumberland had raised 30,000 men and 
was now at Finchley, and the Scottish princes who had only 6,000 thought 
it best to retreat toward Scotland. Some think this was a mistake on 




CULLODEN MOOR. 



-their part, for the English had such a terror of the valiant Scots that a 
victory for James would have been almost certain if they had fought. But 
-they retreated, and the Duke hastened after them to Inverness. 

And now Charles made another mistake. He took his men upon an all 
night march that he might surprise the forces of the Duke. He would not 
wait to seek a strong-hold in the mountain as the chiefs urged. But with 
men worn-out by a long march, faint for want of food and sleep, he put 
himself in the way of the powerful forces of the Duke. Still, say some, he 
might have won had not the MacDonald clan became offended and refused 



178 



Persons and Places in Europe. 



to tight because They were not placed on The right, the place They had always 
occupied in The Scottish army since Bannockburn. 

All The horrors foreseen by The wizard were move than fulfilled in the 
battle that followed. Terrible was The slaughter of The brave Scots and 
Terrible The cruelties of The heartless Puke of Cumberland after The strug- 
gle was over. The wounded 
were stripped of Their cloth- 
ing and left upon The field 
from Wednesday until Fri- 
day and then they were put. 
to death with savage cruelty. 
Some had found refuge in a 
barn, and This The Duke or- 
dered burned while soldiers 
were stationed around it 
wiTh fixed bayonets. 

On the battle-field is the 
siTe of an old smithy which 
is believed to have been 
the only building upon the 
ground when the battle was 
fought. The smith, it is 
said, had no desire to take 
part in The battle, but when 
he saw The havoc being made 
among his countrymen he 
snatched up the shaft of a 
cart and rushing out into 
the thickest of the fight 
struck down every English- 
man within reach of his tre- 
mendous weapon. His ex- 
ploits attracted the attention of the English cavalry and soon such numbers 
began to gather about him that he was obliged to fly. He Took The road 
toward Inverness and after turning upon and slaying several of his pursuers 
was ar last killed. The spot where he fell is sTill pointed out by The coun- 
try people. 

Among the slain was The valiant Lochiel who refused to heed the wizard's 
warning:. 




CHARLES EDWARD. 



Scotland. 179 



The Lobster Fishers. — The rain and mist and sharp mountain air of Scot- 
land have made a brave and hardy race of her people, both men and women. 
Particularly is this the case in the Hebrides, where the inhabitants are not 
only finely formed and handsome, but well-read and gentle and courteous 
in their manners, though their occupation obliges even the women to expose 




PEAT GATHERERS. 



themselves to dangers and hardships. One traveler tells of a woman who 
was the best pilot and sailor on the coast. 

All the men not only greatly respected her, but were ready to obey her, 
so that she was quite the king of the district where she lived. And this 
woman had saved several vessels from shipwreck. 

One of the chief occupations in the northern Hebrides, off the island of 
Lewis especially, is that of the lobster fishers. Their boats may be seen 
beating about the dangerous islets in the stormiest of weather. Each one 



180 Persons and Places in Europe. 

carries a crew of four, and from twelve to twenty lobster creels, which are 
baited and lowered about fifteen fathoms with a cork buoy to mark the 
place where they are left. When, one after another, all have been quietly 
dropped, the fishers wait until they think the creatures below have had 
time to taste their dinners ; then they begin where the first was let down 
and draw them up. Eagerly they peer in upon the contents as soon as the 
creel rises above the water, for it is not everyone that brings up a line high- 
priced lobster. 

There will always be a few adventurous crabs who have crashed their 
broad backs through the ring of the creel, or a sea-serpent or a huge star fish 
with its thousand brilliant mouths sucking dilligently at the bait. Perhaps 
a large tangle is drawn to the surface bringing with it a piece of the bottom 
of the ocean round which its roots are clinging. Over it numerous small 
shell fish are running to and fro in their awkward attempts at walking. 

Sometimes a fowl of the air is brought up from the bottom of the sea, a 
daring cormorant who has plunged down for his dinner and caught his 
death in the traps. But a big red lobster with his great nippers helplessly 
dangling makes the fishermen's eyes sparkle. 

A skillful cut severs the muscle of his dangerous weapons, and then he is 
carefully wrapped in an oilskin to keei> him from the wind or shower which 
his delicate constitution cannot stand. Each must also be kept from his 
neighbor or a combat takes place which disfigures one or the other for 
market. 

The life of a lobster fisher is no child's play. He must keer> his line con- 
stantly set for bait, for the red dragon of the deep requires always the very 
choicest ; he must be out early so as to be the first on the ground, and stay 
late so. as to watch his prorterty ; he must be ready to row for dear life in the 
stormy gale and to take advantage of every change in the weather, and after 
all his hard work he earns hardly enough to keep him comfortable. 

The Fisherman's House. — For mile beyond mile the island of Lews is 
covered with peat bog or overgrown by wet moss and grasses. Everywhere 
gray, scattered fantastic masses of rocks push their barren summits up 
through the black dank peat and scant herbage. 

Everywhere the earth is moist and gleaming with dark, peat-stained 
stagnant water. Noisy trout streams run sparkling along over loose stones 
and pebbles, or flow silently between cliffs and chasms of cold, gray granite. 
Tiny locks and tarns nestle in the hallows at the foot of every crag sometimes 
lashed to fury by the wind which drives and whistles pitilessly over the 



Scotland. 



181 



sterile land, till they break in foam-crested waves on their small stony shores. 
Not a tree is to be seen, not a shrub or flower. 

No bees hum, no birds sing, only the mournful cry of the sea-gull or 
curlew is heard. Small herds of 
sheep or West Highland cattle may 
be seen grazing on the scanty grass, 
tended by bare-legged children, or 
an occasional group of women or 
girls carrying on their backs great 
baskets full of peat. At long inter- 
vals one comes upon a few beehive 
shaped, straw thatched huts, many 
of them windowless and most of 
them chimneyless, the homes of the 
poor fisherman. 

Into one of these an 
lady once took refuge from a storm 
and thus describes what she saw: 



English 





"As I entered the 
low doorway, the dark- 
ness within was so 
great that for a minute or two I could see nothing, but soon the ruddy glow 
from the peat-fire illuminated the room and its occupants. I saw there a 



182 Persons and Places in Europe. 

long lofty shed whose slanting roof was thatched with straw and fastened 
down by ropes attached to heavy stones. 

" There were neither windows nor chimney, the smoke from the tire find- 
ing its escape through the various holes in the well ventilated roof, through 
which the continuous drizzling rain freely entered, making little pools all 
over the smooth-trodden mud floor. 

" The shed was divided into two parts, the smaller end being the common 
sleeping room, the larger the house-keeping place for the whole family , which, 
included two cows, two sheep, and a score of ducks, hens, and chickens that 
were quacking, chicking and picking all over the floor in company with 
several small children and a baby. 

"As I stood, wet and forlorn, in the door-way, a woman rose from a wooden 
bench in a dark corner and came toward me. inviting me in a soft musical 
voice to enter and take shelter. She was very tall and slight, and I saw by 
the flickering firelight that she was handsome, with a dark gentle face and 
large soft eyes. 

"I saw also that she was weeping, and I heard sobs from some hidden 
legion in the darkness beyond. I hesitated about intruding on a family 
trouble, but the woman laid her hand on my arm and assured me that I was 
welcome. 

"Presently as my ear caught the sound of another stifled sob from the 
room beyond, I said to the woman, ' You are in trouble ; is there anything 
I can do '. ' 

" k iSo/she answered, wiping her eyes,' it is the herring fishery. Seven of 
our Lews men haf not been heard of whatever ; there haf been awful storms 
here, and off the coast by Aberdeen, and seven men haf not come back 
at all. One of them wass my daughter's laddie: and to-day it is she wass to 
haf gone home to him in Stornoway as his married wife, and now ' — and 
she hid her face and wept. 

w ' I left the place," continued the lady, " picking my way through the 
slushy road with my heart heavy for those I was leaving behind, and thinking 
pitifully of the many dangers encounted by the men who ply their perilous 
trade on the storm tossed waters of the Hebrides." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE NETHERLANDS. 

The Low Countries of Europe, the Neder^lands , areas wonderful as the 
famous hanging gardens of Babylon. They are the work of human hands. 
They have been snatched from the ocean piece by piece, shut in with mas- 
sive walls, and cultivated until there is no spot in the world so fertile as the 
rich meadows and blooming gardens of Holland and her sister states. 

A great part of the surface of the Netherlands lies below the level of the 
sea ; or above low water, and below high water mark, so that an ancient 
writer said of it, "the ocean pours in its flood twice every day, and keeps 
one always in doubt as to whether the country is really a part of the conti- 
nent, or a part of the sea." 

The barbarous tribes who were first found in these morasses used to 
build their huts on top of stakes or little sand hills. " When the sea rises," 
said the same old writer, " they look like sailors, when it retires they seem as 
though they had been shipwrecked." 

But these ancient j)eople were brave and hardy ; they fought with terrific 
force against their human enemies, and, after a while, they began to wage 
war on their watery foes. Like Canute of old, they said to the ocean " Thus 
far shalt thou go and no further, ' ' but unlike him they caused their com- 
mands to be obeyed. 

The Dykes. — From the mouth of the Ems to those of the Scheldt the 
Netherlands is a great fortress showing to its enemy, the sea, only the tops 
of its towers and the roofs of its houses. Its defenses are huge walls of 
stone, timber and earthworks, built at a cost of money and labor that 
has astonished the world. These dykes are so high in some places that 
ships in the water outside sail along above the houses. 

One can go all through the island of Zealand without seeing it ; it is 
hidden behind the dykes that enclose the canals. On the western coast of 
Walcheren is a dyke that has cost enough to buy its weight in solid cop- 



184 Persons and Places in Europe. 

per. Friesland is nearly surrounded by dykes and all the large cities have 
their protecting walls. 

And all of these great works have been built under the greatest difficul- 
ties. The country furnished nothing for the builders to work with, no 
stone, no iron or metal of any kind, no wood, — the forests had all been 
destroyed by tempests — no anything. But the people taxed themselves 
out of their scanty stores to buy what was needed, they bought granite and 
timber from Norway and toiled and struggled against every difficulty until 
now they are safely walled in from the ocean by miles of solid masonry 
against which the sea dashes in fury, but in vain ; it can find no entrance. 

And yet all is not safe behind those thick walls without constant watch- 
ing. The currents formed by the outflowing rivers and the inflowing tides 
gnaw at the base of the dykes until they are ready to crumble. To watch 
them and keep them in repair is the work of a class of men called water 
engineers, who are educated and hired by the country for this special bus- 
iness. They are called water engineers and they are supposed to know all 
about dykes, sluices, flood-gates and water works of all kinds, even water- 
spouts and tempests. With this standing army at their posts night and 
day, a constant supply of wicker work, piles, and stones always on hand, 
with alarm bells in every steeple and people ready to rush out at the first 
signal to place mats of straw, rushes and sail cloths on the threatened spot 
until the danger is over, the Dutch can feel just about secure. It has been 
several years since they have been \ isited with any very terrible inunda- 
tions, such as have come upon them in former times. One time a great del- 
uge was caused by an unusually strong gale that, blowing for several days 
swept the waters of the Atlantic up into the North sea and piled them with 
such force against the dykes that they burst in every direction. The one 
between Amsterdam and Meyden was broken in twelve pieces. Another, 
made of oaken piles fastened with metal clamps, moored Avith iron anchors, 
and secured by gravel and granite, was snapped like a thread. The ocean 
poured in with terrible fury; whole districts of land with all their villages, 
farms, and churches were torn out of their places and borne along by the 
waves, to be lodged perhaps in another part of the country. The steeples 
and towers of the cities that stood firm became islands in an ocean of waters. 
Ships were driven in from the sea and beaten to pieces against the roofs and 
walls of houses, or became entangled in orchards and groves. Everywhere 
were men, women, and children, horses and cattle struggling in the waves. 
Some found a refuge in the branches of trees or in churches until boats 



186 Persons and Places inpe.JSuro 

could be sent out to their rescue, but fully one hundred thousand people 
were drowned. 

The Lady's Sand. — The rivers of the Netherlands have cost as much 
labor as the sea. With the mud brought down by the currents they choke 
up their mouths and then break out into new channels paying no regard to 
the houses that stand in the way. But the Dutch have stopped these 
ravages by walling the rivers in with dykes and keeping their mouths open 
by dredging. The monsters sometimes break out in rebellion in winter, and 
then a strange battle is fought. The water bursts from under the ice and 
throws it up against the dykes in huge masses that reach across the river 
and form a dam. In a little while the water would overflow and wash away 
the dykes, but the watchful engineers are prepared to ward off the danger. 

They bring up loaded cannon within range of the ice dam and open a 
fire upon the frozen towers and pinnacles until they give way. With con- 
siderable pride a Dutchman once said, " I think we are the only nation 
who fight their rivers with cannon." 

Before the Hollanders had learned how to control their watery enemies 
so well, constant changes were going on in the shajDe of the country. In 
some places the sea would cut off a piece of the mainland and make an island 
of it ; in others it would sink away and join an island to the continent ; here 
it would sweep in and wash away cities and then retire and leave far inland 
those that once stood upon the shore. The rivers too added to the general 
confusion by changing their channels and blocking up their harbors with 
sand. 

It was probably the last of these causes that gave rise to a curious story 
about the town of Stavoren, a city that once had a good harbor and carried 
on a thriving trade. 

According to the story there once lived in the town a rich widow whose 
wealth was so great that she knew not how much she was really worth. As is 
quite often the case, her riches made her cross and saucy. One day she 
loaded a ship for Dantzig and ordered its master to bring back the most 
exquisite and rare produce in exchange for the goods she sent. The master 
found in Dantzig nothing better to his mind than grain, so he loaded his 
vessel with that and returned to Stavoren. But the widow was so displeased 
with the cargo that she ordered him to throw it into the sea. He did as 
he was bid and instantly a great sand bank arose, so high that it blocked 
the harbor, and no ships have 'since been able to enter the port of Stavoren. 
This bank is there yet and is called " the Lady's Sand." Since then the 
town has lost its traffic. 



Netherlands. 187 

Canals. — As in ancient times a victorious army made slaves of their 
captives, so the Dutch have made servants of the conquered waters. All 
over the Netherlands there is a net- work of canals running from city to city, 
from village to village, and from house to house. Even the individual 
farmers have little private canals around their fields and gardens serving as 
boundary- wall, hedge, and roadway. They carry their produce to market, 
not in a great lumbering wagon drawn by horses, but in private boats 
drawn sometimes by horses, sometimes by the farmer and his wife. 

Besides the private boats and rafts there are in Holland the treckschuy- 
ten, or stage boat, which go from place to place carrying passengers, small 
freight, letters or messages. The owner with his family live in the boat, and 
passengers making long trips make themselves perfectly at home ; the 
women knit, or sew, the men sit on the top and smoke. As night comes on 
and the boat glides like a shadow through the sleeping villages, hiding 
behind trees and shrubbery or skimming along in the silvery moonlight, the 
passengers, lulled by the stillness and gentle motion, doze off to sleep as 
comfortably as if in their beds at home. 

In winter the canals become highways for skates and sledges. The far- 
mer glides along to market on his skates, the laborer to his work, the shop- 
keeper to his counter, the peasant girl to town with milk for her customers. 
Whole families go on skates from the country to the city carrying bags or 
baskets or drawing them on sleds. Skating is as easy and natural with 
them as walking, and they attain a speed that is quite wonderful. Women 
and girls dart along like arrows. People skate from the Hague to Amster- 
dam and back the same day. University students leave Utrecht in the 
morning, dine at Amsterdam at noon, and get back to the college before 
night. 

The first day on which the canals and basins are frozen solid enough for 
skating is a grand gala day. Early in the morning the joyful news is an- 
nounced in the city, the journals publish it, the boys shout it, rushing 
excitedly about the streets, the servants are given a day out, even old 
ladies forget their years and go to the canals to gossip with their friends 
and see the sports. 

Meanwhile a crowd gathers upon the ice, and together, ladies and ser- 
vants, students, officers, boys, old men and sometimes a prince, mingle in a 
giddy whirling crowd. Some cut curious figures on the ice, some dart 
backward on one leg, others twist and twine in a hundred dizzy whirls 
within one small space, bending, crouching, or standing straight ..upright, 
like puppets moved by strings. 



1SS' Persons and Places hi Europe. 

Sleds and sledges of every form and size gather upon the ice, — some 
pushed from behind by a skater, some drawn by horses, some moved by 
two iron-shod sticks held in hands of the persons seated in the sledges ; 
quantities of carriages and vehicles of different sorts are deprived of their 
wheels and placed on runners. Even boats and other vessels with flying 
rigging are thus furnished with runners and sail along much more swiftly 
than when traveling in their usual manner. 

Gay festivals and exciting races are held upon the ice. The snow is 
swept off ; cafes, eating-houses, pavilions and small theatres rise on every 
side, brightly lit at night, and surrounded by throngs of skaters. The best 
citizens from all around gather to see the racing. Masts and banners are 
planted along the canal, stands and railings are put up, and good music is 
provided. The names of the winners are faithfully recorded and they are 
famous people ever afterward. 

Haarlem Meer and Zuyder Zee. — Upon any map of Holland made 
more than fifty years ago will be found a large body of water lying south- 
west of Amsterdam, called Haarlem Lake, but no visitor to Holland now will 
be able to find it. It is another conquest. The people, not the sea, are now 
changing the geography of their country. 

The lake was formed more than three hundred years ago by a terrible in- 
undation that swept away a number of villages, and left this body of water 
covering about forty-five acres of land . The thrifty Hollanders after a while 
began to think it a great waste to have so many good acres occupied by use- 
less water, and moreover the lake was constantly threatening their lives by 
overflowing its banks, so they resolved to drain it. A high bank was built 
up around it and three huge draining machines set to work, each of which 
drove eleven monstrous pumps. For four years the engines puffed steadily 
away day and night sucking up the water, and sending it out to the ocean 
through sluices. Then the lake became dry land and now there are hand- 
some dwellings, rich flourishing farms where once the salt sea dashed about 
at its pleasure. The sturdy conquerors sit calmly down by their door- sides 
and smoke their pipes in peace and plenty with the imprisoned waters 
flowing obediently along above their heads. 

This undertaking has been such a success that the Dutch are now plan- 
ning a greater one, the draining of the Zuyder Zee. This great body of 
water was also snatched by the ocean in one or two terrible sweeps of fury, 
and now the persevering Hollanders will patiently win it back again. They 
will gain about five hundred thousand acres of land by the operation at a 



Netherlands. 



189 



cost of fifty millions of dollars. Already the surveys have been completed, 
a huge dyke will be built from Eukhuizen on the western shore to the island 
of Urk, and from there to Kempen, a distance of twenty-five miles, and by 
the end of the present century, the Dutch cows with blankets on will be 
grazing where now the scaly fish are swimming. 

Windmills.— It is often said that Nature has done nothing for the 
Dutch, they have had to struggle against Nature all along. The only ele- 




ENTRANCE TO THE ZUYDER ZEE. 

ment that has helped them at all has been the wind, it has furnished much 
of the power that has drained the marshes and done quantities of other 
work besides. In other countries sawmills, flourmills and factories can be 
run by water power; in Holland where there are no swift streams to do this 
work, they have harnessed the wind. Everywhere the country is covered 
with tall whirling windmills that are busily draining the marshes, grinding 
corn, sawing timber, cutting tobacco, washing rags, crushing lime, break- 
ing stones and doing various other services for the Hollanders. 



190 Persons and Places in Europe. 

These windmills, the larger ones, are tall brick towers about fifty feet 
high, covered with a heavy thatch of straw and furnished with enormous 
arms of wood or sailcloth that sweep around in a circle of over a hundred 
feet in diameter. Each turn produces a tremendous shudder through- 
out the mill and when there is a fair breeze the big shaft that passes 
down through the centre seems to be alive with motion. It will lift a 
height of four feet eight or ten thousand gallons of water per minute. 

A large wind mill is worth as much as a farm: to build it, furnish it, and 
find a market for its produce requires -a good sized capital. The owner 
usually lives in the foundation story which is fitted up for the purpose. It 
is a little surprising to find inside of these curious buildings all the charac- 
teristics of a Dutch home, — the brass-mounted presses, the tiled fire-places, 
the quaint Dutch clock, the dark old dressers adorned with Delft china, and 
claw-footed chairs of dark mahogany mounted with polished brass — every- 
thing clean and shining. 

Curious enough in the day-time is the appearance of these huge wind- 
mills, their flapping arms whirling round now fast, now slow, making all 
the while a monotonous ''•tic-tack," but at night they look wierd and ghostly 
as if they were so many giant sentinels watching over the plain and tossing 
their huge arms in defiance to all invaders. And sometimes they take fire 
and then the arms become wheels of flame, a tempest of burning meal 
whirls through the air making a fiery cloud, and the whole structure turns 
into a red writhing monster. 

The INQUISITION. — Just as the Dutch were getting their watery enemies 
under control, human foes broke in upon them and filled the land with 
terror and sufferings. The people of the Netherlands were always a brave, 
liberty-loving race. When the Romans undertook to conquer them in the 
early years of their history their hardiness won the admiration of the Roman 
general and he invited them to enter his army and fight with him instead 
of against him. For many years afterwards the Batavian legions were the 
pride of the Roman army, their chief dependence in many battles. 

When Rome had loosened her hold upon the world and other conquerors 
came to the shore of the North Sea they too found these people of the 
marshes hard to subdue. But when once conquered they became a quiet 
orderly race, too busy with their battles against the sea to engage in useless 
fighting. 

At the time of the Reformation the Netherlands were a part of the 
dominions of Charles V., Emperor of Austria. " He was strongly attached 



Netherlands , 



191 



to the church of Rome, and when he found that many of his Dutch subjects 
were being converted to the teachings of Luther he was very angry. He 
determined to root out this heresy at once. So he sent into the country 
special officers to hunt out, arrest, torture and burn all who showed any 
belief in these dangerous doctrines. 

Spies were sent into every house, and upon the least suspicion the peo- 
ple were arrested and shut up in a dungeon. If a suspected person con- 
fessed his crime and swore to remain faithful to the church of Rome ever 
afterward, he was allowed to go free, but must give up all his property. 




WINDMILL. 



If, however, he declared himself innocent of the charges, he was tried by 
torture. At midnight the black robed executioner entered his dungeon, 
bound him upon a wooden bench, and with weights, pulleys and screws 
strained and racked his poor body until the life was well-nigh crushed out. 
If he endured this with no sign of suffering, an utter impossibility, his judges 
would take it as a sign that he was innocent of all the errors against the 
holy mother church ; but if he showed that no miraculous power had come 
to him to save him, such as came to Daniel to shut the lions' mouths, then 



192 Persons and Places in Europe. 

they said it was a clear evidence of his guilt. If he still persisted in saying 
lie was not guilty he was put through the same process the next night. 
A few people are said to have endured such torture for fifteen years, but 
many escaped it by confession which took them at once to the stake and 
ended their suffering in one fierce flame. 

The Dutch were not the people to endure such things meekly. They 
had inherited a love of liberty and these cruelties roused them to open 
resistance. One time when two of their preachers had been condemned to 
the stake they decided to rescue them. A great multitude gathered in the 
market-place and waited until the executioners were binding the prisoner 
to the stake. Suddenly a woman took off her shoe and threw it into the 
funeral pile. This was the signal agreed upon. The whole crowd swept 
over the barriers, scattered the fagots in every direction and would have 
seized the prisoners, but the guards quickly took them back to the dungeon. 

That night a great throng gathered in the streets, marched to the prison 
and set the two captives free. 

When the governor heard of this he was in a frenzy of rage, a body of 
troops was at once sent to the village, and men women and children every- 
where were seized and put to death. 

William the Silent. — One day King Henry of France was out hunting 
with his courtiers, and in the royal company was the young Prince William 
of Orange. He had been sent on a mission to the French court by Philip 
II., son of Charles V., who was now ruler of the Netherlands, and king of 
Spain. This young man, a devoted Catholic, and the prince of a large estate, 
had been a favorite at the court of Charles V., and Philip knowing his 
abilities had sent him on important business to France. 

But Philip had not told his young courtier all the business he was trans- 
acting with the French King, and Henry, supposing that he had, began to 
talk to William as they chanced to ride apart from the others of a matter 
that filled the young man with horror. It was nothing less than a well 
planned massacre of all the heretics in the combined dominions of both kings ; 
for in spite of all the persecutions Charles had inflicted on the Netherlands 
there were still many heretics among them, and there were numbers also in 
France. 

As William listened to the details of the plot, he showed by no look or 
word the horror he felt, and for this wise course he was afterward called 
«' William the Silent." But he resolved to prevent the deed, and for this 
purpose hurried home and gave the alarm. 



Netherlands. 193 

Then began a long and terrible straggle that has astonished everyone 
who has ever considered the contrast between the two parties engaged. 

On the one side was Philip II., lord o f an empire that embraced all Spain, 
the north and south of Italy, Belgium, and Holland; in Africa, Ovan, Tunis 
the Cape Verde and Canary Islands; in Asia, the Phillipines; in America, the 
Antilles, Mexico, and Peru. He was married to the Queen of England, and 
was nephew to the Emperor of Germany, who obeyed him almost as a vassal. 
He was really the sovereign of all Europe, since those who were not under 
him were too weak to oppose him. He had under his hand the best soldiers 
in Europe, the greatest captains of the time, the gold of America, the indus- 
try of Flanders, the science of Italy, an army of informers chosen from all 
nations, the blind fanatical instruments of his will; he had everything that 
enchains, corrupts, terrifies, and moves the world. On the other side was 
William of Orange, without a kingdom, without an army, his fortune seized 
and taken from him, surrounded by assassins, looked upon for a time with 
suspicion by the very people he undertook to defend. But he is clear- 
headed, far sighted. Like Philip he could read the minds of men, but un- 
like him, he can win their hearts. He has a good cause to sustain and for 
its sake he makes use of all the arts his keen mind can devise. Philip who 
sends out spies and learns all of Williams surroundings, is himself spied 
out and all his evil designs discovered before he can put them in operation. 
Unsuspected hands search his caskets and his pockets, and unsuspected 
eyes read his secret papers. William in Holland seems to read the very 
thoughts of Philip in Spain, he foresees, unravels, and overturns all his 
plots' mines the earth under his feet, provokes and flies before him, but 
returns again perpetually, like a phantom that is seen but cannot be 
clutched, or if clutched cannot be destroyed. And when at last the death 
of this William of Orange is brought about by the hand of an assassin vic- 
tory remains on his side, and defeat on that of his living enemy. The 
Spanish Monarchy never recovered from the consequences of her war on 

Holland. 

This man, so great and grand a figure before the world, was equally 
noble in his family and among his friends. He was simple in his manners, 
plain in his dress, loved and beloved by his people. He frequently walked 
in the streets of the city alone, talking with the workmen and the fisher- 
men who offered him drink in their own cups. He listened to their tales of 
trouble, settled their differences and entered their houses to re-establish 
peace in families, and they called him father William. He was indeed the 



194 Persons and Places in Europe. 

father, rather than the son of his country, and as such he lives in the hearts 
of the Hollanders. 

In the city of Delft stands a fine mausoleum, erected by the States of 
Holland." to the eternal memory of that William of Nassau, whom Philip 
II., scourge of Europe, feared and never overcame or conquered, but killed 
by atrocious guile,'' as the Latin incription sets forth. It is a kind of small 
temple in black and white marble, loaded with ornament and sustained by 
columns between which are four figures, Liberty, Prudence, Justice and 
Religion. 

A carved figure of the Prince lies upon the coffin and at his feet the 
effigy of the little dog that saved his life at Malines, by waking him when 
two Spaniards were creeping toward him to assassinate him. 

The Burgomaster of Leydejst. — During the struggle between the Dutch 
and Philip the city of Leyden was beseiged by the Spaniards until the 
l^eople were on the verge of starvation. Their only hope, William of 
Orange, had sent word that if they could hold out three weeks he would 
come and relieve them, but the time had passed and he was not yet in 
sight. The Spanish general had sent a message into the town, saying that 
if they would surrender and submit themselves to the mother church all 
would be forgiven. Some said it was not exactly becoming for the man 
who had broken all the promises he had ever made, destroyed their prop- 
erty, hanged, beheaded, burned and buried alive their innocent brethern to 
offer his forgiveness ; he might better ask for theirs. Others said it would 
be wiser to admit the Spaniards and accept their fair promises than to 
starve. A crowd of those who held the last opinion gathered around the 
burgomaster one day as he was going through the street and began to 
threat and abuse him for not opening the gates. 

Standing up in a little open square, as gaunt and thin with suffering as 
any of them, he waved his hat for silence and thus addressed them : 

' ' Why do ye murmur that we do not break our vows and surrender the 
city to the Spaniards ? a fate more horrible than the agony she now endures. 
I tell you I have made an oath to hold the city and may God give me 
strength to keep it ! I can die but once, whether by your hand, the enemy's 
or the hand of God. My own fate is indifferent to me, not so that of the 
city entrusted to my care. I know that we shall starve if not soon relieved ; 
but starvation is preferable to the dishonored death which is the only alter- 
native. Your threats move me not ; my life is at your disposal ; here is my 
sword, plunge it into my breast and divide my flesh among you. Take my 



Netherlands. 195 

body to appease your hunger, but accept no other surrender as long as I 
remain alive." 

This put new courage into the despairing men and women. They went 
out again to the tower to watch for William of Orange; and when the 
Spaniards shouted " Cat-eaters " to them, they said " As long as you hear 
a cat mew or a dog bark in the city you may know that it still holds out. 
And then," they said, "when nothing remains but ourselves, we will devour 
our left arms while with our right we defend our women and our liberty 
from a foreign tyrant." 

Meanwhile relief was coming. Holland had opened her dykes and let in 
the sea upon her enemies, and William was sailing toward them on the 
breast of the invading ocean, with soldiers and pro visions. The frightened 
Spaniards when they saw that the Dutch were going to fight them with the 
ocean as a weapon fled in terror and the city was saved. Then followed 
such a sight as has been seldom seen. All the people of Leyden, barely 
waiting to satisfy their hunger with the bread that was thrown them from 
the ship, hurried to the church, the sturdy burgomaster at their head, and 
there offered such prayers of thanksgivings as only people delivered from 
such straits as theirs could offer. Bitt in the midst of their hymn they 
broke down and wept like children so overcome with joy that they could 
not finish the thanksgiving song. They did not forget too that part of their 
deliverance they owed to the heroic conduct of their burgomaster, and a fine 
statue has been raised to his honor in the city that he saved. 

The Dutch Painters. — When the conflict with Philip was over, when 
the Netherlands rose up out of the water to begin again the work of centuries 
that she had destroyed in a day, because she prized liberty above fair fields, — 
when the struggle was over, and the enemy driven out, many changes began 
to take place. 

First the country had a new government, all her own, subject to no 
foreign master. She had a new religion, for while she had gone down into 
the sea a Catholic, not intending to cut loose from the mother church, she 
rose up out of the waters a Protestant because the church had taken the 
side of her enemy. New views, new thoughts, new industries began to 
spring up. Prosperity returned and the people were joyous and happy, 
The arts and sciences were taken up with new vigor, especially painting. 
A class of pictures began to grow under the brushes of the Dutch painters 
that attracted the attention of artists all over the world. 

These painters, having lost much of their interests in saints and Madonnas, 



196 Persons and Places in Europe. 

the usual subjects of artists in their time, began to paint what they saw 
aronnd them. They took scenes from their snug little homes, safe now from 
all enemies and dearer than ever for the struggle it had cost to make them so. 
They painted the mother at her housework, the children at their play ; the 
kitchen with its table spread for the noon, or evening meal ; the fireplace 
with its circle of smiling faces, the yawning dog, and the dozing cat. 

"When they looked outside for subjects there was the cow, the chief 
source of the Dutchman's wealth, the creature upon which he bestows the 
greatest of care, warm blankets and a post to rub against. These animals 
the painters put upon canvas with such skill that they became celebrated as 
cattle painters. In the museum at the Hague is a picture of a bull painted 
by Paul Potter that has become world renowned. 

There were no forests in their land to paint, but here and there were 
clumps of trees, and these the Dutch painter treated in away that brought 
out all their beauty, as no artist had ever done before. 

Then there was their old enemy the sea, in all his changing forms and 
terrors, sometimes gay and melancholy, sometimes turbulent and full of 
varying colors, and sometimes furious with angry dashing waves. More 
than one of the painters bought a vessel and went out to live upon the sea 
with his family that he might catch all its different moods . The greatest of 
these painters, William V an derVelde, folio wed the Dutch fleet when it went 
to battle with the English, and painted in the midst of the cannon smoke, 
pushing his little vessel right into the thickest of the fight. Another man 
went out into a small boat while a tempest was raging that he might ob- 
serve the action of the waves, and would probably have been drowned 
if his boatmen had not rowed to the shore in spite of his orders to the con- 
trary. Still another kept on the sea in this way after he was twice ship- 
wrecked. 

Such pluck must needs accomplish something, and when to it was added 
the patience that the Dutch possess in about the same proportion the result 
is often wonderful. In the picture of ' ' the Dropsical Woman' ' by Douro are 
some examples of this patience. A broom handle, about as large as a pen, 
cost the artist three days of labor. Every minute seam and vein, knot and 
filament, stands out clearly and distinctly. But in this matter a certain 
class of the painters went to an extreme that marred their pictures, magnify- 
ing the little things beyond their true proportion. 

Studying thus from nature instead of copying, the Dutch painters made 
valuable discoveries. They brought out the striking effects of light 



Netherlands. 



197 



■-■:- -■ ■ ■ : ■ --■■■' ■ ■■.-■ ..= . -. -■ -■■- ■ ■■■ 

-...-..■'. 
■"":■■■■.■.■:■■"■■■.'■;-■:■■■ •■_":■■., /.'■ .■■■'■•...■.■.■. ;; 



and shade, striking features of brilliant coloring and a masterly way of deal- 
ing with ocean scenes. 

But, especially, they succeeded in giving a perfect panorama of Dutch 
life, so that if Holland should be swept away and only her pictures remain, 
from these alone one could see the entire country, its cities,, its ports, ships, 
markets, shops, costumes, arms, merchandise, household utensils, food, 
pleasures, habits, religious beliefs and superstitions, and even read the 
character of her people, firm, patient, calm and courageous, so accurately 
have the Dutch painters represented 
all these things in their pictures. 

The Lesson in Anatomy. — One of 
the best pictures of the Dutch Paint- 
ers is " The Lesson in Anatomy," by 
Paul Rembrandt. It represents a cer- 
tain Dr. Tulp, professor of anatomy at 
Amsterdam, with his pupils, grouped 
about a table on which is stretched a 
naked corpse, one arm of which has 
been opened by the dissecting knife. 
The professor, with his hat on his 
head, points out to the students with 
his forceps the muscles of the body. 
Some of the students are seated, some 
standing, bending over the corpse. 
The light striking from left to right 
lights up the faces and one side of the 
dead body and leaves in darkness the 
dresses, the table and the walls of the 
room. 

The first feeling upon looking upon the picture is one of horror and 
repulsion from the corpse ; it is so ghastly. The eyes are open with the 
pupils turned upward, the mouth half open, the chest sunken, the legs and 
feet stiff, the flesh livid, looking as if, should you touch it with your hand, 
it would feel cold. This stiff rigid body presents a most striking contrast 
to the lively attitudes, the youthful faces and bright attentive eyes of the 
disciples as they listen with curiosity and wonder to the words of the anato- 
mist. He, the master, is tranquil, his eye serene and his face almost smiling 
with the ease and assurance gained by long study of his subject. 




REMBRANDT AND HIS "WIFE. 



198 Persons and Places in Europe. 

Rembrandt was the leader of the Dutch school of painting in his time. 
Pupils from all over the world came to study under him. He taught that 
it was better to paint the scenes of every day life even though they were 
ugly, than to try to paint what existed only in ones imagination, however 
beautiful it might seem. He painted all subjects from grave to gay, 
sublime to commonplace, Christian and historical. In his early years he 
painted a great many home scenes. 

He has almost written his own biography and that of his wife in his 
pictures . Her face appears to have been always a favorite study ; he put it 
in many of his works. First he painted her when a young girl with a 
bright smile on her face ; then he represented her as queen of the fairies ; 
then as a rich lady dressed in silks and jewels ; then as mistress of her 
household presiding at the table. As she grows older the pictures show the 
changes that passing years bring to her face until there comes one in which 
the fresh beauty of youth and strength are gone and in their place a quiet 
thoughtfulness, the traces apparently of care or sickness. This picture is 
the last of Saskia's ; she was taken from him the same year in which it was 
painted. 

Rembrandt has painted himself also in many fanciful ways : as a jovial 
young man with his wife on his knee and a wine glass in his hand, as a 
soldier with drawn sword, as an elegant lord magnificently dressed, as a happy 
worker at his table, with Saskia sewing by his side or attending to her house- 
hold duties. There was a long interval after Saskia's death in which he had 
no heart for these happy home scenes. But again toward the close of his 
life he painted himself with a medal around his neck, a fur cloak thrown 
over his shoulders and close-fitting cap on his head, his long white hair 
falling beneath it. Again comes a fanciful portrait in which he has a turban 
of white linen on his head, the handle of a dagger projects from his dress, 
in his right hand there is a bundle of manuscript and in his eye a merry 
twinkle. His last portrait of himself shows a face wrinkled by time and 
care, but with a hearty laugh upon it, as though he had learned to brave 
trouble and misfortune and could be merry and light-hearted in spite of 
them. 

A Toy Majstsioist. — In the museum at the Hague may be seen a good 
example of patient, painstaking, Dutch handiwork. It is a toy house that 
was made for Peter the Great when he was in Holland learning the art of 
ship-building. He intended to carry it to Russia as a memento of the 
country, but when he found that it had cost a small fortune he refused to 



Netherlands. 199 

take it. The ricli burgomaster who had had it made at his own expense, 
presented it to the Museum to shame the stinginess of his royal cus- 
tomer. 

The little building is a perfect model of the house of a well-to-do Dutch- 
man, completely furnished from garret to cellar, but on the smallest possi- 
ble scale. In the dining room is a tiny tea service upon a table as big as a 
silver dollar, in the kitchen are all the cooking utensils necessary for cook- 
ing a dinner. There is a gallery of pictures, a library, a cabinet of Chinese 
curiosities, cages with birds, tiny prayer books, carpets, linen for all the 
family, with finest lace and embroidery. 

The burgher did the work after the manner of a Dutchman, slowly and 
well, so slowly, however, that it took nim twenty-five years to complete it, 
which was perhaps one reason why Peter did not take it; he had grown 
tired of waiting. But it was done perfectly; the cleverest workmen in Hol- 
land had made the furniture; the most expert goldsmith the plate; the most 
accurate typographer printed the little books, a delicate miniature painter, 
the pictures; the linen was made in Flanders, the carpets and hangings in 
Utrecht. It is no wonder, in view of all this that it was so long in being 
put together, or that it cost too much for the economical Peter. 

Delft Ware— In nearly every line of work that the Dutch have under- 
taken they have come very near perfection. In the sixteenth century they 
began the manufacture of earthen ware and made such an improvement upon 
all the wares then in the market that theirs was demanded all over Europe. 

Each generation of potters went on making improvements, not only in 
finishing and enameling, but in producing fanciful shapes and artistic decor- 
ations. 

Each dish of the table sets was made in the shape of the viand it was to 
contain and highly decorated. Some of the best Dutch painters were em- 
ployed in decorating the Delft pottery. 

Besides the table ware they made quantities of tile for ornamenting 
chimneys, passages, and walls, and these too were highly decorated. On 
some, made to hang against the wall, were painted fine pictures; a canary 
bird in a cage, life size, was a frequent design ; horses, and cows, the last 
wearing blankets which were painted yellow, blue, red and green. The 
horses too were decked out in gay trappings and had their manes and tails 
plaited. 

A favorite subject with the pottery painters was the marriage of William 
V., Prince of Orange, with the Princess Sophia Wilhelmina of Prussia. The 



200 Persons and Places in Europe. 

couple are represented facing each other with an orange branch between 
them. 

Sometimes a historic incident is represented as the story of the strategem 
by which a citizen of Rotterdam saved his house from pillage during the 
trouble with the Spaniards. The Count of Bossu had craftily obtained an 
entrance into the city, and once in, had given his soldiers leave to murder 
and pillage to their hearts content. 

One of the citizens, after sending his family into the cellar, sprinkled 
the floor and steps with the blood of a cat which he killed for the purpose. 
The door he left open, and the Spaniards seeing the blood, supposed that 
some of their comrades had been there before them and let the house alone. 
This story is told in pictures on the tile. 

After a time Delft ware went out of fashion; other potters in Europe ac- 
quired more skill and turned out more substantial articles. Now a vessel 
of real Delft pottery of the finest kind is hard to find. The Queen of Hol- 
land has some at her "House in the Woods," and so have a few wealthy 
families of Holland where once it was found in every house. 

The Dutch Navy. — When Peter the Great of Russia was trying to 
learn how to build ships he could find no better teachers than the Dutch, 
and so he came to Holland to receive instructions. The house where he 
stayed, while, in the guise of " Peter Michaelhoff " — he worked like an 
ordinary apprentice in the ship-yards — is still carefully preserved at 
Zaardam. 

As navigators the Dutch had no superiors ; they joined the search for 
the northwest passage with the other adventurers, and while doing so discov- 
ered the island of Nova Zembla. And it was from the Dutch port of Delft 
that the Mayflower, a Dutch ship, brought the English Puritans to the New 
World. 

Soon after they had freed themselves from Spain they had a navy that 
could not be excelled by any of the larger countries of Europe. Spain and 
England had the largest ones and with both of these the Dutch were obliged 
to fight ; the result was that the Spaniards were beaten badly and the 
English came very near losing their title to " Mistress of the Sea." 

No better example of sturdy Dutch " pluck" can be found than the 
famous Admiral Van Tromp who saw thirty-two sea fights, and was killed 
while leading a charge against the English. He fought several hard battles 
with the English fleet and at flrst he was worsted in the encounters. But at 
last he completely scattered their fleet and returned to Holland with a broom 



Netherlands. 201 

nailed to the masthead of his ship to show that he had swept them from the 
sea. 

Another gallant Dutch admiral was De Ruyter, who led the Dutch fleet 
against the English in the Irish sea and there fought one of the fiercest 
naval battles on record. After four days of fighting it was hard to tell 
which side was the victor. But a few days afterward the battle was 
renewed and then the English won. 

It is said that De Ruyter seeing the certain defeat in store for his side 
cried out, ' ' What a wretch I am ! Among so many thousand bullets is there 
not one to put an end to my miserable life ?" 

The Tulip Mania. — The Dutch ships had much to do with the prosper- 
ity of Holland. Before the war with Spain all the rich goods from the East 
Indies were brought into Europe by the Portugese ; but when the Dutch 
rebelled Philip forbade them to enter the harbors of Portugal. So they 
formed an East India Company and went themselves to the Indies for silks 
and spices. A thriving trade was soon established, which, added to their 
home industries, made them extremely wealthy. Many gained large 
fortunes and could afford to indulge in costly luxuries. 

Their houses were like palaces ; they dressed themselves in velvets, silks 
and pearls. After filling their homes with pictures, hangings, porcelain and 
precious objects from all the countries of Europe and Asia, the rich mer- 
chants of the large Dutch cities began to spend considerable sums in orna- 
menting their gardens. 

About this time some tulips were brought into Germany from Con- 
stantinople. From there they came to Holland, and the Dutch admired 
them greatly. Everybody soon had tulips in his garden. Rare varieties 
were cultivated and brought extravagant prices. In a little while the 
steady Dutchmen became possessed with a perfect frenzy for tulips. Mer- 
chants and shop-keepers vied with each other in buying the most costly 
varieties. 

The prices of a few favorite kinds rose to the most unheard of sums. A 
single bulb of the Admiral Lief ken specie was worth forty-four hundred 
florins, an Admiral Van der Eyck twelve hundred and sixty florins, and a 
Semper Augustus fifty-five hundred florins. The last were much sought 
after and the fame of possessing one was reluctantly parted with even 
for money. One speculator offered twelve acres of building ground 
for one of these tulips, and another gave for one "forty-six hundred florins, 
a new carriage, two gray horses and a complete suit of harness." 



'20"2 Persons and Places in ISurope. 

Sometimes these costly plants met with sad accidents at the hands of 
strangers or visitors in Holland who were not versed in tulip-lore. 

A wealthy merchant who was once the owner of a very costly Semper 
Augustus, which he kept upon his counter, received notice one day that a 
ship-load of goods, ordered from abroad, had come to port. He re- 
warded the sailor who came to tell him of the ship's arrival with a red- 
herring for his breakfast, and the fellow went on his way. But this 
sailor was very fond of onions, and while he was in the store seeing what 
be took to be an onion lying on the merchant'' s counter, among the silks and 
velvets, he picked it up, while the owner's back was turned, and put it in his 
pocket. 

Soon after the sailor left, the merchant missed his Semper Augustus. 
A great uproar at once followed, everybody searched distractedly for the 
precious root, but in vain. The merchant was nearly frantic, when some 
one remembered the sailor. All hands dashed into the street, the master 
leading the way, and rushed down to the vessel. There sat the sailor 
innocently chewing the last morsel of his "onion;" never dreaming that 
he was swallowing a fourteen-hundred dollar breakfast. Poor man ! he was 
hustled off to prison by the irate merchant and sentenced to a term of several 
months on a charge of felony. 

Another unfortunate man, an English philosopher and a botanist, saw a 
tulip-root lying in the conservatory of a wealthy Dutchman, and taking it 
to be an onion, began experimenting on it with his pen-knife. AVhen he 
had peeled off about half the layers, cut it into equal sections and made 
many learned remarks upon it, the owner suddenly darted upon him and 
asked if he knew what he was doing? 

" Peeling a most extraordinary onion," 1 replied the philosopher coolly. 
"JTunderf tausend dui/rei r /" cried the Dutchman, "that's an Admiral 
Van der Eyck." 

"Thank you," said the Englishman, taking out his note book to write 
down the name ; " are these admirals common in your country ?" 

For answer the Dutchman seized him by the collar and said, "Come 
before the syndic and you shall see." 

In spite of all his protests he was dragged through the streets, followed 
by a mob of people and taken before the magistrate. There he learned that 
he had been experimenting upon a tulip that cost four thousand florins, and 
that he must go to prison until he could find securities for paying the full 
amount to the owner. 




lililll I Miiiillli 



204 Persons and Places in Europe. 

The Smoking Mania. — Everybody who visits Holland is surprised and 
somewhat amused at the clouds of tobacco smoke constantly rising from 
the nose and mouth of every Dutchman. 

One traveler says that they measure distances by pipe-fulls. From this 
place to that one is not so many miles, but so many pipes. He says that 
they go to sleep with pipes in their mouths, relight them when they wake in 
the night, and again in the morning before they get out of bed. 

A queer story is often told in Holland of a man who had as great a mania 
for tobacco as ever his countrymen had for tulips. He had made a very 
large fortune in India, and on his return built a beautiful palace near Rotter- 
dam. In this he collected and arranged and labeled as in a museum, all the 
models of pipes that were ever used in all countries and in all times, from 
the rude ones of the most ancient barbarians to the splendid pipes of meer- 
schaum and amber, carved in relief and bound in gold. The museum was open 
to everybody, and all who visited it were sent away with an elaborate catalogue 
of the articles on exhibition, bound in velvet, and a pocketful of cigars and 
tobacco. 

This great piper smoked 150 grammes of tobacco per day and lived to the 
age of ninety eight, so that if he began when about eighteen years of age, in 
the course of his life he smoked 4,383 kilograms of tobacco. 

When he felt that his end was near we sent for his lawyer and made 
his will, after each had placed a well filled pipe in his mouth. "I desire, " 
he said, "that all the smokers in this country shall be invited to my 
funeral by all possible means, by newspapers, private letters, circulars and 
advertisements. Every smoker who accepts the invitation shall receive 
ten pounds of tobacco and two pipes, upon which shall be engraved my 
name, my arms and the date of my death. The poor who follow my body 
to the grave shall receive each man, every year, on the anniversary of my 
death, a large parcel of tobacco ; but on condition that all who are present 
at the funeral services, shall smoke constantly throughout the entire cere- 
mony. When my coffin is deposited in the vault every person present 
shall pass by and cast upon it the ashes of his pipe." 

This strange will, they say, was rigorously carried out. The funeral was 
attended by a vast multitude, every one contributing to the cloud of smoke 
that covered them like a veil. Even the old cook, to whom he had promised 
a fortune if she would conquer her dislike to tobacco, joined the crowd with 
a cigarette in her mouth. 

Cow Paradise. — Many people who wear fine clothing would be glad 



JSfetlierlands . 



205 



to cnange abodes with the cows of Holland. Their stalls are paved with 
colored tiles, the windows decorated with muslin curtains and pots of 
flowers, the mangers are painted; the animals themselves are scraped, 
combed, washed and, that they may not soil their coats, their tails are tied 
up by a cord to a nail in the ceiling. The beams and woodwork are often 
scrubbed or whitewashed and never so much as a cobweb is to be seen. 

In summer, when the cows are out in the pasture, the gutters are often 
sprinkled with sand which is brushed with a broom into curious and 
fantastic figures, or ornamented with sea-shells, colored pebbles, old China- 
ware and pottery. An old black table with carved legs will sometimes be 

found in one of the stables 
loaded with antique ves- 
sels, fat old pewter or sil- 
ver flagons, candlesticks 
and snuffers, and brass- 
hooped casks that look 
like big black fingers wear- 
ing gold rings. These 
have to be removed, of 
course, in the fall when 
the cows are brought home 
for the winter, but even 
then the stalls are kept 
perfectly clean with con- 
stant washing and scrub- 
bing. 

Opening off of the cow- 
room is a cheese-room, 
which is a perfect arsenal 
of shining pails and pans, wooden benches, scoured white, big milk and 
curd tubs, curd knives and cheese moulds. 

In the store-room there are alcoves and shelves full of cheeses, a per- 
fect library of cheese ; all spotlessly clean, the room dry and well lighted. 
The greatest care is taken of these products of the dairy ; each one is 
turned and tended every day until it is a month old, then every other day 
for another month. When they are sufficiently cured and painted over with 
linseed oil on the outside they are sent to market. 

The quantity of cheese shipped from the Netherlands to all parts of the 





206 Persons and Places in Europe. 

world each year is something astonishing. From the province of North 
Holland alone come twenty-six millions of pounds of cheese every year. 

A Heroic Bird.— After the cow, there is nothing in the animal world 
that the Dutch think so highly of as the Stork. On the same pole which is 
set up for the cow to rub against, or perhaps on the roof of the house, is 
nailed a huge cartwheel for these birds to make their nests upon. A very 
common sight in Holland is a stork perched upon one leg on the ridge pole 
of the house, and it is thought a good sign to have him there. To show that 
these birds are worthy of the high regard in which they are held, the Hollan- 
der tells of their heroic defense of their young at one time during a terrible 
fire at Delft. 

When the fire occurred there was a large number of young storks in their 
nests about the city unable yet to fly. As the old birds saw the fire ap- 
proaching they tried to carry their little ones out of danger but could not. 
After making all kinds of desperate efforts they gave up. But instead of 
trying to save themselves, as they might easily have done, they refused to 
leave their little ones to perish. With a heroism more than human they 
settled down upon the nests, gathered the young ones under their wings, 
and so awaited their fate. 

But the chief reason why the stork is cherished in Holland is that it 
protects the dykes from destructive insects. A great panic was caused in 
the country once by a small creature, a kind of shell fish that had been 
brought in some ship from the tropical regions, and got into the dykes. It 
multiplied so rapidly that when discovered the wood of the dykes was 
almost eaten up by them, and in a very short time the sea would have broken 
through. 

In great alarm the people rushed, first to church to pray, and then out to 
work. They lined the sluice gates with copper, they fortified the dykes with 
stone and masonry, they strengthened the piles with nails, and so managed to 
keep them standing until the damage had been fully repaired. But such a 
time of terror not even the persecutions of Philip aroused as did that 
little worm. 

As the stork is an eager devourer of all such harmful creatures the Dutch 
look upon it as a kind of national protection, and give it an invitation, in 
the shape of a cartwheel or big box fastened on the top of the house, to come 
and take up its abode with them. 



CHAPTER IX. 



BELGIUM. 

Belgium, once a part of the Netherlands is, geographically, a small coun* 
try ; but an important one 
because of its rich mineral 
stores and the valuable 
goods produced by its in- 
dustrious people. After 
England it yields more 
coal than any other coun- 
try of Europe; it sends 
out quantities of iron, 
zinc, building and paving 
stones, and the beautiful 
black marble of Dinant. 
Its thriving farms stand 
second to none, though the 
soil, like that of Holland, 
had to be created by pa- 
tient toil ; and it is famous 
for its fine linen and lace. 
Besides this it is the site 
of one of the most import- 
ant battle fields in the 
world's history, and its 
painters once created an 
epoch in the world of art. 

The Forest of Ar- 
dennes.— Belgium is HOMEWORK. 
mostly a level country, but 
in the southwest is a hilly region which belongs to the famous old for- 




£08 Persons and Places in Europe. 

est of Ardennes through which Caesar led his legions against the ancient 
Gauls. 

Not all of the territory called the forest of Ardennes is wooded ; there 
are among its rocky and heath covered hills, its deep ravines and dark rapid 
streams, many fertile farms, neat cottages and thriving villages. Within 
the deeper recesses where wild-boars, deer and wolves yet rove are many 
curious old castles tilled with stories of the past. The great oak forests are 
always roaring and whistling with the wind, resounding with the cries of 
night-birds and beasts, and flickering with the fitful marsh lights. All of 
these things, the cause of which the simple inhabitants do not understand, 
tend to make them superstitious, and they have peopled the place with un- 
earthly beings, mountain sprites, goblins and dwarfs, as well as saints and 
heroes. The Ardennes especially abound in traditions of a kind of " lubber 
fiend " who, like the Scottish brownies, help those whom they like by thrash- 
ing their corn, mowing their hay, cleaning their houses, rubbing down their 
horses and asking in return only a bowl of bread and milk. These little 
people Shakespeare brings into his " Midsummer Mghts Dream," the scene 
of which is laid in the forest of Ardennes. 

The goddess Diana used to be the special deity of the ancient dwellers 
in Arden, and the belief in her rites held its ground for many years in spite 
of all the efforts made by Christian priests to banish it. In recent 
times certain festivals have been held there during which a mysterious ban- 
ner, was displayed bearing the likeness of a centaur, half woman and half 
horse, with a lion's tail, holding a bow in its right hand and an arrow in its 
left. The simple people manifested the greatest reverence for this old ban- 
ner though they could give no account nor explanation of it. Those who 
Studied into the matter said it was a relic of the worship of Diana. 

This forest of Ardennes was the scene of some of the adventures of the 
renowned St. Hubert, after whom it is sometimes called the forest of St. 
Hubert. In his younger days this man was a mighty hunter, and once as 
he was following his favorite pursuit a stag appeared before him bearing a 
cross between its horns. He took this to be a miracle intended to reprove 
him for his evil ways, and from that time he renounced his wickedness and 
became a good man. So good and so holy, it is said, that he not only had 
the power of working miracles, but even the smallest shred from his gar- 
ments could cure disease. 

He was particularly regarded as the patron saint of hunters. A town 
and a church, the finest in Belgium, now stands upon the very spot, it is 
said, where the stag appeared bearing the cross. 



Belgium. 209 

Caverns of the Lesse. — The forest of Ardennes is traversed by two fine 
rivers, theMeuse and its tributary the Lesse which is noted for its numerous 
rocky caverns. All along this river are rugged lime-stone rooks containing 
great empty chambers most beautifully decorated with hanging stalactites 
and glittering pillars of lime. 

One of the most remarkable of these caverns is the " Haus sur Lesse," 
about twenty miles southeast of Dinant. The opening of the cave is a dark 
yawning mouth out of which pours the river. Here the visitor enters in a 
boat where all is dark as Tartarus except for the faint rays of the guide's 

torch. 

A gun fired off here produces a terrible succession of thundering echoes. 
After a short sail the boat is landed and the visitor climbs a steep staircase 
-till he reaches a magnificent chamber. This opens into numerous other 
apartments some more than two hundred feet high. 

All the roofs are covered with wonderful stalactites, and the floor 
with corresponding stalagmites, some like bunches of grapes, others like 
.cauliflowers, one like the head of a swan, and another like that of a dog. 

In one chamber the stalactites look like banners, and the stalagmites 
like tombs. Some resemble chandeliers draped with gauze, others the 
heads of spears. In one part of the cavern the path leads over a gurgling 
stream by a crazy bridge into a great gallery of marvelous height 
•containing immense stalagmites. At every step some new and wonderful 
form is met, the growth of long quiet ages. 

The Spa. — Upon the eastern verge of the Ardennes, southeast of the city 
of Liege,is a famous watering place which some one has described as a pretty 
green bowl with a little toy town sunk in the middle. The edges of the bowl 
are formed by the lofty wooded hills of the forest among and beyond which 
are delightful rambles and drives. 

Everybody used to go to the Spa. It was the place of resort for all 
Europe. No tour of the continent was complete which did not take in this 
place ; no gentleman's education was finished until he had visited it. 

Not only lords and ladies but kings and queens were frequent visitors. 
Peter the Great was cured of a disease here in 1717 and sent a tablet to be 
put up at the springs as a memento of his recovery. This added greatly to 
the fame of the place and the number of visitors began at once to increase. 
Other crowned heads of Europe came here to be cured, among them Gusta- 
vus III., of Sweden, Joseph II., Emperor of Germany, Prince Henry of 
Prussia, and Charles II. of England during his banishment. 



210 Persons and Places in Europe. 

Two royal exiles have made their home at the Spa : the Infanta of 
Spain, daughter of Don Francesco de Danla who married a Polish count 
against the wishes of her family and was banished in disgrace, and the 
Prince of Capua, brother of the king of Naples, who also was forbidden 
to return to his home for marrying contrary to the wishes of his royal 
brother. 

After the French Revolution the tide of fashion began to turn from the 
Spa to the German watering places, so that it is no longer the resort it was. 
Still about 16,000 people visit it every year and 150,000 bottles of the water 
are put up and sent away. 

The Wicked Baeoist of Monjardijst. — In the neighborhood of the Spa 
are a number of attractive grottos and cascades, to which the visitors at the 
Springs usually make short excursions. Near one of these, the grotto of 
Remouchamps, stood once the chateau of a very wicked baron who came to 
the place stained with crimes commited in his native country of Italy. 

One day, says the story, there came to the castle a young minstrel asking 
permission to play before the baron and his wife. At the first stanza of his 
song the baroness grew deadly pale and asked him where he came from and 
of whom he had learned the song. He replied that he had come from Treves 
and that an aged man with whom he had lived taught him the ballad and 
bade him sing it in every town and castle he entered. 

The baron, seeing that his wife was greatly disturbed by the song ordered 
the minstrel to quit the room, but to wait in the castle for further orders. 

As soon as he was gone the baroness told her husband that only her 
father and herself had ever known that song. Then said the baron " He is 
a spy, and I will see that he does not return to tell anyone where we are." 

" do not kill him," said the baroness. "Add not the murder of this in- 
nocent youth to thy long list of crimes." 

" Well," replied the baron, "I will not take his life, but he must not be 
allowed his liberty. I will confine him in one of the chambers of the castle. ' ' 
But the youth was not to be found, he had left the place. A few days 
afterward, however, he again appeared. Then the baron had him taken to a 
secret chamber, known only to himself, and there bade him tell why he had 
come to the castle. 

The minstrel answered as he had before and would say no more. The 
baron told him he should have neither food nor drink until he had told 
what he had asked, and then left him. The next day the baron came again, 
but the youth would say no more, so he left him to starve. 



Belgium. 



211 



On the third day an old man, weary and footsore with travel, came to the 
door and asked to see the baron. 

' ' Thou dost not remember me, " he said when admitted . "lam thy wife' s 
father. Thou didst carry off my daughter from Treves, at the head of thy 
robber-band, and ever since I have sought her in vain. At length I thought of 
a means which has proved successful. I knew a ballad which my daughter 
composed in her youth. This I taught to a boy whom I brought up as my 
son. I bade him go forth and sing this song in every town and castle until 




FARM. 



he had found my daughter, and send me word that I might see her before I 
died. He came here, thou didst know him doubtless, for he is thy brother." 
The baron waited to hear no more, but hurried out to the chamber where 
he had confined the youth, and there found him lifeless on the floor. He 
took him in his arms to carry him out, when to his terror he found he had 
closed the door, which could only be opened from the outside. Nobody ever 
knew what had become of him until years after,when some masons in repair- 
ing the castle found this secret chamber, and the two wasted forms within 
it, with a paper containing the confession of the baron. 



212 Persons and Places in Bur ope. 

The baroness at once caused the castle to be pulled down and a church built 
upon the spot. 

The Horse Bayard. — About three miles from the same grotto of Remou- 
champs, are the ruins of an old castle which once belonged to Aymon, Prince 
of the Ardennes. He lived in the time of Charlemagne, or Karl the Great, and 
his youngest son having slain one of Karl's sons in a quarrel, brought down 
upon the whole family the revengeful wrath of the great monarch. For a 
long time they were able to defend themselves by the aid of a powerful 
magician and a wonderful horse called Bayard, which the Princf had given 
to Remold, his youngest son. One day the magician captured the Great 
Karl, and brought him into the castle of the princes, which he had been 
beseiging, but Reinold let him go free. This angered the magician, and he 
refused to help the princes any more. Fearing that their families would 
be starved by the seige the emperor was keeping up, Reinold and his 
brothers escaped to their castle in the Ardennes, whither the emperor fol- 
lowed them. 

Then Reinold' s mother, Ayra, went to Karl the Great to plead with him 
for mercy on her children. 

" Yery well," replied Karl, " listen to my offer. Reinold' s horse Bayard 
has done me more harm than Reinold himself. Isow I will pardon your four 
sons if Reinold will give the brute to me to be killed as I think best." 

When Reinold heard the offer he refused at once. 

" But think of your wife, your children and your brothers. The gallows 
at Monfaucon is prepared for them, and it will be said that Reinold 
gave up all his family to die a shameful death for the sake of a dumb 
animal." 

Here the horse whinnied softly ., and laid its head trustingly on Reinold' s 
shoulder. 

"I can not do it, mother. I can not do it," he cried. 

" Yery well, my son," she said, "but remember when all my children and 
grand-children are hanging on the gallows, your mother's heart will break." 

" Have your will then," he said in a strange hollow voice; "but I shall 
not survive it." 

He signed the treaty, and the horse was taken to the emperor in Paris. 
There it was led to the middle of the bridge over the Seine, with iron weights 
fastened to its feet, and pushed into the river. 

The emperor, Reinold, and his mother were there, and a great crowd 
besides came to witness the death of the famous horse. Three times he rose 



Belgium. 



213 



to the surface, irf spite of the weights, and each time looked toward his 
master. 

" Beware, count Remold ! " cried the'emperor ; " his eye is fixed on you ; 
if you are keeping him alive by any enchantment it shall be the worse for 
you. I will tear up the treaty." 

With a cry of terror, Ayra flung her arms around her sons neck so that 




CANAL AT BRUGES. 



he could not see Bayard as he rose the fourth time, and not seeing his master's 
face, he sank then to rise no more. 

Then Reinold pushed his mother aside, flung at the emperor's feet the 
letters granting to him his lands, and breaking his sword, threw it into the 
river, saying, " Lie there with my Bayard, and may God forget to be gracious 
to me if ever I mount ahorse or draw a sword again." 

Then he fled away into the forest and left his country for the Holy Land. 



214 . Persons and Places in Europe. 

Knights of the Golden Fleece. — Charlemagne left Belgium, a part of 
the French empire, to which it remained attached for several centuries. 
After a while it came into possession of a family known as the house of 
Burgundy, who held it under the French king, according to the custom in 
feudal times. The Dukes of Burgundy, by marriage, treaties and alliances, 
kept increasing their possessions until they owned all the Netherlands and 
a part of France, making them nearly as powerful as the king himself. Their 
castles were as splendid as the palaces of kings. 

One of these powerful princes was Philip the Good, at whose court 
one of the powerful orders of chivalry was organized. The occasion was 
the celebration of Philip's marriage with Isabella, daughter of King John 
of Portugal. When the festivities of the wedding were at their height, in 
the city of Bruges, Philip called his courtiers together and made them 
" Knights of the Golden Fleece." This name was chosen for the order because 
his father had been imprisoned in the land of the Golden Fleece, and the 
society was consecrated to St. Andrew, because he carried the gospel to that 
region. 

Each knight received a badge containing a golden fleece, fastened to a 
red ribbon ; around his neck he wore a chain of flints and rays of steel, the 
Duke's symbol of steel and flint striking fire, and each took a solemn oath 
promising to uphold the honor of knighthood and the interests of the Church 
of Rome. Its motto was, " I have accepted it." At the festivals, or " chap- 
ters " of the order, held afterward, the knights used to wear long purple 
robes made of silk velvet or rich scarlet cloth. 

The honor of being grand master of the Golden Fleece has been the cause 
of much dispute between the kings of Austria and Spain. It descended to 
the heads of the Burgundian family until their line ended in Mary, who 
married Maximillian I. of Austria, bringing all of her extensive domain to 
that house. 

According to a decree, when there was no longer a man at the head of 
the house of Burgundy, the heiress might bestow the title of grandmaster of 
the Golden Fleece upon her husband. Maximillian, therefore, received the 
title and gave it to his descendants. After a time a woman, Maria Theresa, 
inherited the throne of Austria, and she bestowed the honored title upon 
her husband Francis. This greatly displeased Philip V., King of Spain, who 
as a male descendant of Mary of Burgundy and Maximillian, through 
another line, claimed the honor. 

The dispute could never be settled, so the kings of both Spain and Austria 



Belgium. 215 

have sinco claimed the honor, and neither will recognize the right of the 

The Beggars.— About a hundred years after the order of the Golden 
Fleece was founded, another company of men met in the city of Brussels 
and banded themselves together, not to protect the interests of the church 
of Rome but to resist the oppression which was being used against them m 
the name of the church, by the fanatical Philip of Spain. There 
was no pomp, nor ceremonies, nor festivities connected with the 
formation of this society. It was a solemn, earnest company, met to pro- 
tect themselves from a danger which threatened their lives. 

Philip' s sister, Margaret of Parma, was governing the Netherlands at that 
time for her brother, and he had sent orders for a court of inquiry to be 
set up in every province for the purpose of discovering heretics and putting 
them to death. When the nobles heard of this they called a meeting and 
drew up a petition to the governess opposing most earnestly the execution 
of this order. "When it was finished they all marched through the streets, 
iour hundred of them, to present the paper to Margaret. 

To avoid creating any excitement, or alarming the governess, they had 
dressed themselves in their plainest clothes,and went on foot instead of on 
horseback. Margaret, who had received news of their coming, was afraid 
they were going to threaten her into complying with their demand, but 
when they came into her presence, a countess whispered to her, " you need 
fear nothing from these people, for they are beggars.' ' 

The remark was overheard by one of the nobles, and that evening when 
they were met together at a banquet, he mentioned it to the others. 

« It is no shame," they said, " to be beggars for the country's good," and 
everybody cried, "Long live the beggars." The host darted out and 
brought in a wooden goblet, such as the pilgrims and mendicant monks 
usually wear at their girdles, and pledged the whole company to the health 

of the beggars. m 

The cup went round, and when each had drank of it, they proceeded to 
drive a nail into the wood as a token of their adherence to the vow of the 
beggars Not only this, but they dressed themselves and their families 
afterward in the beggar's costume of gray cloth, carried a small wooden 
porringer, or cup, fastened to their caps, and wore about their necks medals 
of gold or silver, on which were engraved the image of the king on one side, 
and on the other a beggar's wallet and two hands joined, with the motto, 
" Faithful to the king, even to the wallet." 



216 Persons and Places in Europe. 

The Image Breakers. — After the decided stand taken by the nobles, the 
people who had been meeting in secret to hear the Bible and the preaching 
of the Reformers, were considerably encouraged. They now assembled in 
open fields and plains in great numbers, " to show," they said, " how many 
the inquisition would have to burn, slay, and banish." 

At first they went to the meetings unarmed, but finding the authorities 
were disposed to send the people home, they carried pistols and rapiers, and 
finally clubs, pikes, and muskets. They fortified the plain where they 
assembled with wagons, and stationed guards at all the entrances. 

One day as a number of people were proceeding towards a place of meet- 
ing near the town of St. Omer, in Flanders, they were suddenly seized with 
a zeal for breaking all the images of the saints they saw on the road. This 
was a fine outlet to the fierce feelings oppression had stirred up within them, 
and the impulse spread rapidly to all the surrounding towns. Not only the 
images and statues in the churches were thrown down, but the altar pieces, 
the monuments, and even the coffins of the dead were defaced ; the gold and 
silver ornaments were plundered, and the fine carvings, and paintings of 
the early Flemish masters, were destroyed. In the cathedral of Antwerp, 
70,000 ducats worth of precious things were destroyed, and for three days 
the streets were filled with a wild mob engaged in sacking the churches. 
Order was finally restored by the knights of the Golden Fleece. In some 
cities the works of art were saved by the magistrate, who quietly removed 
them before the mob reached the churches, but the whole amount of damage 
done was more than could be estimated. 

One thing might be said in favor of the rioters ; they committed no deed 
of violence upon man or woman and no robberies . They left heaps of jewelry, 
gold and silver plate, and costly embroidery lying on the ground, and pun- 
ished with death one of their number who stole five shillings worth. Their 
motive was simply to destroy the religious symbols, which they considered 
abominable idols. 

But such blind zeal always does more harm than good, and the result of 
their work was that the Catholics of Flanders, where the image-breaking 
was carried on most fiercely, were so embittered against the Protestants that 
this portion of the Netherlands remained with Spain when the rest rose in 
revolt. 

The Field of Waterloo. — Ten miles south of the city of Brussels is 
the great dreary plain of Waterloo, where, a little more than seventy years 
ago was fought one of the most important battles of history. On this plain 




THE GUARD DIES, IT NEVER SURRENDERS.' 



gl8 Persons and Places in Europe. 

the English Duke of Wellington placed his forces to resist an attack from 
the great French Conqueror, who for several years had been creating 
empires and emperors, and changing the map of Europe to suit himself. 

Two ridges run through this field, with a little valley between them. On 
the one the English and their allies were stationed, on the other French. 
At one end of the field was the farm of "La Haie Sainte," at the other an 
old Flemish chateau, each of which was occupied by the British. These 
two points and the central ridge were the scenes of the fiercest fighting. 
The farm was taken and retaken several times ; the chateau was held 
unwaveringly by the British, though a battery of howitzers planted 
against it set it on fire more than once. The French gained a footing 
within the orchard and garden several times, but were never able to enter 
the walls surrounding the house. Some one says, "The Belgian farmer's 
garden wall was the safeguard of Europe, whose destinies hung on the 
possession of this house." In these walls may still be seen the loop-holes 
through which the British guards fired. 

On the central ridge, also, the British stood firm, resisting charge after 
charge of French cavalry, hurled upon them by the furious Ney. 

A high mound has been erected on this part of the field, and on its top 
is placed the figure of the lion of Belgium, made of iron from the cannon 
left on the field, and raised in honor of the Prince of Orange, who fell there. 
Some have thought a British lion would have been more appropriate, as it 
was their insistence that saved the place, while the "braves Beiges" are 
said to have left in great haste when the fight grew hot. 

Another monument has been raised at the place where the Prussians en- 
tered, in memory of the seven thousand dead, whom they left on the field. 
Still another tells of a brave German legion that stood and were cut to 
pieces after their ammunition had given out. Their commander had forgot- 
ten to keep an opening at their rear for supplies, and they were left helpless 
before the fire of the enemy. 

The French have left monuments of their valor only in the records of 
their conduct during the most trying scenes of the battle. Napoleon, when 
he had given the order to retreat, declared his determination to die within 
the square which he had vainly formed for the protection of his fugitives ; 
but one of his generals hurried him away. Ney, covered with dust and 
blood, his clothing torn, his head bare, kept his place at the head of the 
guards, on foot and sword in hand, after the fifth horse had been shot from 
under him. And the old guard, surrounded at last, and their retreat cut off, 



Belgium. 219 

refused to lay down their arms. "The guard dies, it never surrenders," 
was their last reply. 

The " Masaniello." — After the battle of Waterloo the conquerors,— 
Austria, headed by the keen old statesman Metternich ; Prussia, Russia, 
England, Denmark, and several of the small German states, all met at Vienna, 
to re-arrange the map of Europe, with which Napoleon had been playing such 
havoc. The great statesmen who represented the different countries came 
to the conclusion that Belgium should be put with the States of Holland, so 
as to form a barrier against any future attempts of France to extend her 
dominions on the north. The whole territory thus united was named "The 
Kingdom of the Netherlands," and given to Frederick William, a prince of 
the house of Orange. This was a very bad thing for both countries, for the 
two nations differed in religion, in tastes, in character and language, and 
more than that, the Dutch were burdened with a great debt amounting to 
billions, which the Belgians, who owed only a few millons, were compelled 
to help pay. Then too, the Dutch insisted that the Belgians, whose written 
language was closely allied to the French, should change it at once for their 
own. 

The Belgians greatly outnumbered the Dutch, but were not allowed a 
proportionate number of representatives in the legislative chambers, and any 
measure they proposed for the benefit of their own country was usually 
opposed. The Dutch received also nearly all the nominations to office. 

Thus the position of Belgium became that of a subjected country, rather 
than an equal. This humiliation she had already been obliged to endure for 
centuries, having been tossed to and fro like a ball, from Austria to Spain, 
from Spain back to Austria, from Austria to France, and now from France 
to Holland . The people began to grow tired of this , after they had been joined 
to Holland a while, and finally they presented petitions to the king stating 
their grievances. When these received no attention they grew very restless, 
and published bitter things in their papers . Then the papers were suppressed, 
and all office holders who sympathized with the Belgians were turned out 
of their places . 

One brave man named Potter, started a subscription for the benefit of 
those who had been thus deprived of their livelihood because of their opin- 
ions, and he was immediately arrested, tried for sedition and banished. 

Just at this time the French broke out in successful rebellion against 
Louis XVIII. This had a great effect upon the Belgians, who began to say 
that if the French could free themselves from hated rulers, why not they % 



220 Persons and Places in Europe. 

Thus the kindlings were all ready for the match, which was struck on 
the evening of the 28th of August, 1830. While the people of Brussels were 
listening to an opera composed by Auber, the French musician, they became 
so excited by the music that they rushed out of the house and made an 
attack on the office of the national newspaper, one that was carried on by 
the government. 

Smashing bolts, locks, doors and windows, they poured through the 
building, broke and carried into the streets everything they could lay their 
hands on, and there set the whole pile on fire. From here they went to the 
armorer's shops, which they seized and barricaded. By the time the police 
fully realized what was going on, the revolutionists were ready for a strong 
defence. 

The news flew quickly to other cities, where the same scenes were repeated. 
Then a congress of citizens assembled at Brussels, and drew up an address 
to the king, asking for several reforms in the government. The king replied 
that he would not consider the matter until they laid down their arms. This 
they were not willing to do, and so the royal troops were sent against them. 

But the king was very loth to fight. He had been slow to realize how 
deeply dissatisfied the Belgians were, and now believed that they might still 
be brought back without much bloodshed. His son, the crown prince 
Frederick, who was sent against the rebels at Brussels, tried to reason with 
them instead of fighting, but they would not listen. When they did come 
to blows, the Prince's men were obliged to withdraw. The Belgians then 
declared their independence amid great rejoicing. 

The king appealed to the powers who had given him Belgium to help him 
bring it back, but after some delay they decided to let the " Braves Beiges " 
keep the independence they had gained, and so Belgium has been a separate 
country from that time. 

Belgian Lace-makers. — While Belgium was subject to Spain all of her 
industries except lace-making, either dwindled away, or were carried into 
other countries. This too would doubtless have shared the same fate, but 
that the workers were women, who could not so readily seek freedom from 
persecution in foreign lands. They remained at home, and when the country 
emerged from her trouble, took up their bobbins again. 

Each town, where lace making is carried on, has its own patterns, which 
have been handed down from mother to daughter for generations. Many 
of the workers live and die in the houses where they were born, working as 
they were taught by their mothers or grandmothers. Thus from the hands 



Belgium. 



221 



of the women of Malines comes the Mechlin lace; from those of Valenciennes, 
the lace of that name, and from the capital city, the rich Brussels lace nsed 
for bridal and ball dresses, and to adorn the robes of queens and courtly 
ladies. 

The work is divided among the makers, one doing the groundwork, 
another the flowers, another attaching the flowers to the ground. 

A very important part of lace making is spinning the thread. No 
machine can be contrived to do this work, for it requires human care and 




~<^i^i<W n\> — . — — ■ -■ ~ 



TJ^»yfe,. c 



FISHERMEN. 



vigilance. Only the skillful fingers of the Belgians have yet been able to 
produce it. 

The finest thread for lace-making is made in Brussels, in damp under- 
ground cellars. For it is so extremely fine that the dry air above ground 
causes it to break. There are many old thread makers in Brussels, who 
have passed nearly their whole lives, spinning like spiders in their damp 
cellars . 

The spinner has a piece of dark blue paper as a back-ground against 
which to watch her flax, and as soon as she sees the least unevenness in it, 
she breaks it off and takes a new piece. This fine flax, prepared especially 



222 Persons and Places in Europe. 

for the thread spinners, is very costly, and none of the pieces broken off are 
wasted. 

The weavers of the Lace are more fortunate than the spinners. They can 
take their thread and Lace pillow into the open air, the park or garden. In 
many of the towns there is a particular street where the lace makers meet 
in tine weather. With their chairs and lace pillows they set out from their 
homes for the wide open street, and there gather in little social groups with 
their friends, their busy tongues keeping oompany,but not interfering with 
their busy fingers. 

TheFlemise Painters. WTitte Belgium was united with the Nether- 
lands under the house o( Burgundy, the country became the most flourish- 
ing part o( Europe, and in this condition it was carried by Mary o( Bur- 
gundy to the Anstrians. The province of Flanders was one cd* the leading 
portions of Burgundy, and here a school of remarkable painters arose. One 
o( the founders, Hubert van Eyck, discovered a drying varnish for oil paints 
that made paintings in oil much more valuable than they had ever been 
before. The excellence o( the work done by him and a few associates drew 
a number of students around them just before the war with Spain. But it 
was not until the century after the war that the fame of the Flemish 
painters shot up to its greatest height. 

In the year L600, two years after the death of Philip II., Peter Paul 
Rubens, a young man, whose father had been secretary of William the 
Silent, went to Italy to study painting, having learned all that the Flemish 
artists could teach him. These men too had gone to Italy to study, but they 
had only imitated the works of the Italian masters. Rubens seized upon 
the life and vigor which he saw in these old works, and this idea he began 
to carry out in his own way "with brute violence of brush and brilliant 
color, ami daring composition," said one of his critics. 

His pictures so fall of life and energy won the highest admiration, and 
pupils began to flock around him from every quarter. Orders came pour- 
ing in by the score, so that he could only furnish the designs for many of 
his pictures, and after his pupils had done the heavy work, give them their 
finishing tenches. 

He used to rise very early in the morning, in summer at four o'clock, 
and immediately heard mass, after which he went to work. While paint- 
ing he usually employed a person to read to him, so that his mind might be 
occupied with pleasant thoughts while he worked. 

At this time too, he was ever ready to receive visitors, talking animatedly 



Belgium. 223 

and pleasantly while plying his brush.' Before dinner he rested an hour, 
letting his thoughts dwell as they would on the subjects he had been read- 
ing about, or on science, or politics. 

After dinner he worked again until evening, then mounted his spirited 
Andalusian horse and rode for an hour or so. This was his favorite exercise ; 
he was extremely fond of horses, and his stables generally contained some 
very beautiful animals. After his return home he usually received a few 
congenial friends, men of learning or artists, and with these he shared his 
plain supper, and passed the evening in pleasant conversation. 

The last picture Rubens ever painted was one of his best . It was an altar- 
piece ordered for the church of St. Peter at Cologne, the city where he spent 
the first ten years of his life, and he was anxious to make it a strong one. 
The subject he chose was " The Crucifixion of Saint Peter," who was nailed 
to the cross with his feet upwards. 

He was to have completed it in a year and a half, but it was not done at 
the time, for the painter could now work but slowly. 

The last touches were hardly put upon it, when the news went trom 
mouth to mouth through Antwerp, " Rubens is dead." 



CHAPTER X. 

GERMANY. 

Germany is a land of stories. Here all the legends and romances of the 
northern nations appear in their most at tractive form . Its forests are famous 
for witches and goblins ; its chief river owes half its charms to ghost- 
haunted castles ; its highest mountain is never named apart from the spec 
tral shadow that plays about the summit ; its most noted book is the one 
that records the adventures of Siegfried, the prince of legendary heroes. 

But Germany is something more than a land of stories. It is the land of 
champion soldiers, skillful workmen, of great musicians and learned scholars. 

The River Rhine. — There is no feature of his country that the German 
speaks of with more pleasure and pride than the river Rhine, which some 
travelers think does not deserve all the fame it has received, but Victor 
Hugo, the great French writer, says it possesses the chief qualities of all 
other noted rivers. He says it is "rapid, like the Rhone ; broad, like the 
Loire ; encased, like the Meuse ; serpentine, like the Seine ; limpid and green, 
like the Somme ; historical, like the Tiber ; royal, like the Danube ; myster- 
ious, like the Nile ; spangled with gold, like an American river ; and, like 
an Asiatic river, abounding with phantoms and fables." 

Germany possesses but the middle portion of the Rhine, the upper part 
lies within and upon the boundary of Switzerland, and the lower traverses 
hill-less Holland, but neither of these parts are as attractive as that within 
the German borders. 

It is here that the Rhine flows by its most picturesque banks, its most 
noted battle-fields, where the conquerors of other days won many of their 
laurels, and the flourishing cities where to-day manufacturers and traders are 
the chief actors. And here the busy steamers ply, carrying every year more 
than a million of passengers, merchants planning or driving bargains, and 
pleasure- seekers tracing out noted places in their guide-books, or listening 
to some of the oft repeated stories, such as this : 



Germany. 



225 



" Here is the steeple of Yelmicli, where once hung a silver bell, that had 
been given to the church by the Bishop Winnifred. For many years the 
bell rang for prayers, and tolled for funerals, until a wicked Seigneur was sent 
to rule over the town. He did not believe in God or the devil, and being 
once in need of money, ordered the silver bell to be taken down from the 







BLACK FOREST. 



steeple and brought to him . The good prior of Yelmich was greatly troubled 
over the sacriligious act and went to see the Seigneur about it. 

" Ah ! you want your bell do you?" said the wicked man. "Very well 
you shall have it, and I warrant it shall never leave you." He ordered the 
bell to be tied around the priest's neck, and both to be thrown into the pit of 
the tower. Then large stones were thrown into the pit, filling it up about 
six feet. 

A few days afterward the Seigneur fell ill, and when night came on the 



226 Persons and Places in Europe. 

doctor and astrologer who were watching with him, heard with terror the 
ringing; of a silver bell from the earth underneath them. 

In the morning the man was dead, and every year since, when the day on 
which he died comes around, those about the place can hear from beneath 
the ground the ringing of a silver bell. 

The Black Forest. — The high region in the southwestern part of Ger- 
many where the Rhine enters, is known as the Black Forest. It is a branch 
of the old Hyrcanian, or Hercyan Forest, that used to cover a large part of 
central Europe, reaching from what is now the Thuringian Forest to the 
Hartz and Carpathian mountains . On the east side of the Black Forest is the 
birthplace of theDanube, on the west a series of elevated table-lands descend- 
ing toward the Rhine. Down these steep slopes, after a heavy rain, the 
torrents rush with terrible force, doing much damage in the hamlets and 
villages below. Sometimes, in their mad career, they burst out into new 
channels and startle the people with their unexpected appearance. 

A queer legend is made to account for the origin of one of these streams 
which rises in a little lake on the top of theKandel, one of the highest peaks 
of the Black Forest. This lake, the people say, had once no outlet, and the 
inhabitants of the valley through which it now flows suffered from the want 
of water, and yet if the lake should break its bounds, it would flood the 
whole valley, for it was said to be of immeasurable depth. Now the Evil 
One had long been planning a way of breaking down the rocky wall and 
letting the lake out to drown the poor people in the valley, but it could only 
be done by an innocent boy, and he had much trouble in finding such a one 
as would suit his purpose. 

One evening he saw a poor orphan boy, who watched cattle on the Kandel, 
coming down the mountain, looking very sad and dejected, for he was think- 
ing of his pitiful wages, his tattered clothes and his hunger. " This is the 
boy for me," said the Evil One to himself, and immediately he changed his 
appearance to that of a hunter. He approached the boy kindly, inquired the 
cause of his grief, and said that he could give him some assistance. " There 
is plenty of gold and silver in this mountain," said the seeming hunter, " and 
if you will come here early to-morrow, with a good strong team, I will help you 
get it. The boy promised to be on hand. The next morning, as soon as it 
was light, he hurried to the mountain with four heavy oxen that be- 
longed to his master. The hunter was there waiting for him, and had 
fastened a ring of yellow metal around the rocky wall. The boy was not 
exactly pleased with the work before him, but he obeyed the stranger, and 



Germany. 227 

when all was ready started the cattle, saying, " Now then, in the name of 
God ." As soon as he had uttered these words the heavens became suddenly 
dark, lightning flashed about in all directions, and the mountain trem- 
bled and roared as if a mighty sea were within it, heaving against its side. 
The boy fell in a dead swoon at the terrible sounds, and the oxen broke loose 
and ran away. But the boy's exclamation as he started the oxen had 
thwarted the plan of the Evil One. The rock did not split entirely away as 
he expected, but only enough to let out a little rill of water. 

When the boy recovered his senses the sun was shining, the hunter 
was gone, and there from a deep gap in the side of the mountain was rush- 
ing a beautiful torrent. 

In a few moments he saw his master running toward him, terrified at the 
noises he had heard, but seeing the torrent he fell on the boy's neck, ex- 
claiming with great joy, " The wish of the people is fulfilled, the valley 
will be supplied with water." 

Then the boy told him what had taken place. 

" Ah ! " said his master, "it is well you did it in the name of the Lord, 
else the lake would have burst its bounds and we should all have been 
drowned." 

Bingen on the Rhine. — Midway on its course through Germany the 
Rhine passes the old town of Bingen, toward which the " soldier of the 
legion," in Mrs. Norton's beautiful poem, looked back with such longings 
as he "lay dying in Algiers." Near this noted town of Bingen, the great 
Nibelungian hoard of the hero Siegfried is said to be buried, and 
here too stands the famous " mouse- tower," where the wicked bishop was 
eaten up by mice, or rats, which ever it was. The oft repeated story of this 
"mouse-tower" is one that never loses its interests. It has been told in 
many different ways, usually about as follows : 

One time there lived at Mayence, a cruel archbishop named Hatto, — a 
miserly priest, who was readier to open his hand to bless than to bestow. 
One year when the hearvest was bad he purchased all the corn and shut it, 
up in his granery, hoping to sell it at a high price. When the famine was. 
so great that the people began to die of hunger they came to the bishop and 
demanded corn ; but he refused to give it. Then they surrounded his 
granery and would not go away. They threatened to break it open if he 
did not give them something to keep them from starving. 

Then the bishop appeared to change his mind. He told them to come 
next day and bring all their friends and he would give them all they could 



228 Persons and Places in Europe. 

carry away. Tliey came in great crowds, and the bishop, unlocking the 
door told them to go in and help themselves. When they were all in he had 
his servants lock the door, and set fire to the place. 

Then the wicked bishop danced with delight as he heard the screams of 
the burning people, and asked his servants if they heard the squeaking of 
the rats. 

The next day the fatal granery was in ashes, and there were no longer 
any people in Mayence. The town seemed dead and deserted. Suddenly a 
swarm of rats sprang from the ashes of the granery, coming from under the 
ground, appearing at every crevice, swarming the streets, the citadel, the 
palace. Hatto in despair quitted Mayence, and fled to the plains, but the 
rats followed him ; he shut himself up in Bingen, which was surrounded by 
walls, but the rats crept under them. He then fled to a tower in the middle 
of the Rhine, thinking he should find refuge there ; but the rats swarmed 
through the water, climbed up the tower, gnawed the door and windows, 
the walls and ceilings, and at last, reaching the room where the wretched 
bishop was hiding, devoured him. 

The deserted tower is now crumbling in the middle of the river ; and 
sometimes at night a strange red vapor is seen issuing from it, like the 
smoke of a furnace. This,the people say, is the soul of Hatto condemned to 
hover forever around the place of his crime. 

It is too bad to spoil an interesting story for the sake of truth, but it must 
sometimes be done. The facts in this case are, the tower was not built until 
more than a hundred years after the Bishop of Hatto died, and its purpose 
was for collecting toll. The bishop too was not such a very bad man, but 
quite strict as to church discipline, and so was disliked by the people and 
priests. The object of the toll house, moreover, was not very pleasing to those 
who had to pay toll, and so by putting two and two together the story grew 
into that of the very wicked bishop and the mouse-tower. 

The Dragon's Rock. — Passing from the highlands of southern and 
central Germany into the northern plain, the Rhine reaches Cologne, the 
city of the great cathedral, of eau de Cologne (Cologne water), and the 
meeting place of the old Hanseatic league. Here the glory of the river 
toward the north ends, just where Siegfried the hero of the Nibelimgen lied 
began his famous career. A few miles south of the city is a range of hills 
called the Siebengebirge (seven-hills) on one of which once lived a terrible 
dragon, who was greatly feared by all the surrounding country. One day 
Siegfried, son of the king of the Netherlands, started out with the deter- 



Germany. 



229 



urination of slaying the terrible dragon. After a furions fight the hero was 
victorious, and then to make his flesh proof against all mortal weapon 
thereafter he bathed himself in the blood of the vanquished dragon. 

Thus annointed Siegfried started out in search of adventure. Before he 
had gone far he came to the cavern where the king of Nibelung-land had 
stored his enormous treasure, and here at the mouth of the cave he saw the 
hoard of gold spread out upon the ground and the two sons of King Nibel- 




DRAGON S ROCK. 



ung surrounded by their body guard trying to divide it between them. 
But there was so much of the treasure that they could not decide upon any 
way of dividing it, and thus they had been disputing ever since the death 
of their father. 

When they saw Siegfried they called to him to come and help them, say- 
ing they would give him as a reward their father's mighty sword, Balmung. 
The hero stopped and undertook to settle the dispute, but neither of the 
brothers would agree to any plan he proposed. Both had fiery tempers 



230 Persons and Places in Europe. 

and they wrangled and quarrelled until Siegfried was utterly out of 
patience, and catching up their father's sword, he slew them both and also 
their body guard of twelve giants. Then a powerful dwarf, Alberich, 
rushed out upon him with the fury of a lion to avenge the death of his 
masters. But Siegfried, annointed with the dragon's blood, easily over- 
came the dwarf and took from him his magic cloak, which had the power 
of making its wearer invisible and endowed with twelve times his natural 
strength. 

Thus Siegfried became master of the great Mbelungian hoard, which 
consisted of more than a hundred wagon loads of gold and precious stones, 
and the possessor of more than human power. Moreover all the knights 
of Nubelungen-land swore that they would serve him as vassals, so he 
became their king. The dwarf, Alberich, he made keeper of the hoard, 
ordering him and his hosts to restore it to its place in the cavern from 
which he might draw it when he wished. 

In after days Siegfried found this hoard of great service to him, as he 
went on and met with other adventures, all of which are told in the wonder- 
ful " Nibelungian Lay." 

Tito: Spectee of the Brocket. — Passing from the Rhine region to the 
east at higher region than the Black Forest is reached among the Hartz 
mountains . These, though the highest in North Germany, are not especially 
remarkable for size nor beautiful scenery. They are mere mole-hills com- 
pared with those of the Alps just to the south, but rising from the great 
level plain that extends from their feet to the Baltic, they seem wonderful 
to the peasants who are accustomed to nothing but these flat wastes. 

They are also full of fertile valleys where large herds of cattle are pas- 
tured, well wooded with valuable timber and stored with rich minerals, 
silver, copper, zinc, lead and iron. 

For many years about thirty thousand persons have been employed in 
the mines of the Hartz Mountains, one of which is the deepest in the world. 
Mining is studied here in schools established for that purpose, and there are 
a number of towns in which no other business is conducted but such as is 
connected with the mines. 

On account of their curious formation and great variety of minerals 
these mountains are a favorite resort of geologists, but to the usual visitor 
their great attraction is the mysterious shadow that plays about the summit 
of the Brocken at certain times. Once in a while, eight or nine times in a 
year perhaps, when the mists happen to be rising perpendicularly out of 



Germany. 



231 



the valley opposite the sun, just at sunset or at sunrise, if the top of the 
mountain is left clear, its shadow is reflected against the face of the rising 
mists greatly enlarged. The inn on the summit appears like a great palace, 
and the people about it like giants. p 

The peasants account for the shadow by saying that on certain days all 
the evil spirits in the world meet on the Brocken to hold a festival in honor 
of the Evil One himself, and if any mortal is bold enough to venture up the 
mountain on that night he will see his own ghost stretched out before him. 




SPECTRE OF THE BROCKEN. 

Beunhilde's Leap.— The whole rocky region of the Harts mountains 
bristles with " Devils' Pulpits," "Witches' Alters," "Goblins' Lakes," and 
various other names given them by the superstitious people. There is such 
a strong belief in real goblins, bogies and spectres among some of the peas- 
ants that at certain seasons of the year they will not venture out after dark. 
Every strange appearance in rock or hill is supposed to be the work of some 

unearthly creature. „ 

A very wonderful story is told of a mark, something like a horse s hoot, 



232 Persons and Places in Europe. 

that is to be seen upon a rocky platform a few miles east of the Brockei. 
The cause of it was a beautiful princess by the name of Brunhilda who liveu 
in the land of Bohemia. One day there came to her father's castle a hand- 
some young prince, the son of the king of the Hartz country, who feU ii 
love with the beautiful princess at first sight. 

She was equally pleased with him, and so the wedding day was set. 
Soon after he had returned home to make preparations for her at his 
father's house, there came another suitor for the hand of the princess, the 
giant Bodo from the cold northland. She was not at all pleased with the 
giant, though he brought her elegant presents, necklaces of amber, rich 
gold ornaments studded with gems, and a wonderful white charger. But 
her father was afraid of offending the great giant so he bade Brunhilda get 
ready to be married within three days. 

As Brunhilda was bemoaning her fate, and trying to plan some way of 
escape, her eye lighted on the burly form of the giant riding up and down 
before the castle on his favorite black steed, and a happy idea entered her 
head. She began at once to treat the giant more cordially and the next day 
made him almost happy by consenting to mount the white horse he had 
brought her and learn how to manage it. 

The next day was the wedding, and while the merry-making was at its 
height, the giant laughing until the halls of the castle shook, Brunhilda 
slipped out to the stable, sprang upon the fiery white steed and ordered the 
guard to lower the drawbridge. 

The sound of her horse's hoofs upon the bridge, roused the giant from 
his mirth, and in an instant he was on the back of his black charger flying 
after her. On they went over rocks, valleys, and streams, but the white 
steed kept ahead, and slowly increased the distance between his mis- 
tress and the giant. Night came, but on they went, sparks of fire dashing 
out from underneath the flying hoofs of the steeds. 

As morning dawned the maiden saw far ahead the summit of the 
Brocken, the abode of her lover, the prince. If she could but reach his 
castle she would be safe, for he, she thought, would be able to deliver her 
from even the terrible giant. 

Suddenly her horse stopped and reared, just upon the verge of a precipice. 
Each side was walled up, there was no way of escape, behind was the angry 
giant. There was only one hope and that lay before her. The horse might 
jump the ravine. Wheeling him around she struck him a sharp blow with 
her whip, and galloped to the verge of the rock. The brave horse gave a 



Germany. 233 

mighty spring and landed safely on the other side, bnt he struck the rock 
with such force that he left upon it the print of his foot. 

When the giant came up, he tried to make his horse do what the maid- 
en's had done, but the weight upon its back was too great, and it sank with 
the giant to the bottom of the abyss. 

The Heroes of Teutoberg Forest.— The northern part of Germany 
is a great low plain over which the waters of the North Sea once roared but 
have now left to the domain of man. Across it four great rivers roll slug- 
gishly along, burdened with the waters of the central hills and terraces, the 
Rhine having turned to the left and deserted Germany for Holland. 

On the boundary between the plain and the terraces is the starting point 
of German history. Instead of witches, goblins and nymphs, two real 
heroes appear battling for the liberty of the German race. First comes 
Arminius, or Herman, as he is sometimes called, who delivered his country 

from the Romans. 

ThisHerman was born sixteen years before Christ, and when a boy went to 
Rome where he must have been at the time of the Saviour's birth. The young 
Saxon, pleased with the wonderful sights of the great city remained there 
some time learning the Roman language, and arts of warfare After a time 
he was given command of a legion fighting on the banks of the Danube. 
From there he returned home and found his country greatly oppressed by the 
cruel Roman general Varus, who was stationed among them _ Herman 
became a German again at once and began planning to get rid of this Roman 

"Tretending great friendship for Varus, he advised that general to divide 
his army into small bands and send it around through the different provinces, 
that better order might be kept. Varus did as he advised, and then Herman, 
having secretly organized a large force, made war upon the Roman general. 
He drew him from his strong holds along the banks of the Rhine into the 
wilds of Teutoberg forests. . 

Then he began a fight that lasted three days and ended m the total 
destruction of the Roman army, Varus himself being killed 

' When the news of this defeat reached Rome it caused great dismay. 
The old Emperor Augustine nearly lost his mind and went about wringing 
his hands and crying, " Varus, Varus, bring back my legions." 

After five years the Romans came again to recover their lost country, but 
all they accomplished was the work of burying the bones of their country- 
men who perished with Varus. Herman was upon them and drove them 



234 Persons and Places in Europe. 



, 



back, with, great loss. Again they came with a larger army, but met wit 
no better success, and then they left the country forever. This was the end 
of the Romans in Germany. 

The next great power after the Romans was that of Charlemagne, 
King of the Franks, who marched his victorious army into Germany a few 
hundred years after the Romans left. For a while his men conquered all 
before them, but when they were gone, a sturdy chief by the name of 
Wittikind stirred the Saxons up to active resistance. Charlemagne sent 
another force against them and all but Wittikind took the oath of allegiance ; 
he fled to his brother-in-law, the king of Jutland. 

As soon as Karl had gone away again, Wittikind returned and raised 
another revolt. This time the Saxons were more successful and after four 
years of fighting they destroyed a great army belonging to Charlemagne 
on the banks of the Weser just southwest of Hanover on nearly the same 
ground where Herman fought his last battle with the Romans. When the 
emperor heard of this he was very angry, and put over forty-five hundred 
Saxons to death. Then all the tribes rose in revolt and declared they would 
have Wittikind for their king. After three years more of fighting, Karl 
gave up trying to conquer the Saxon king, and agreed that he should rule 
over Saxony with the title of Duke. 

Wittikind then became a Christian and reigned twenty years over the 
duchy of Saxony, with his court at Enger, where, nearly six hundred years 
after his death, the Germans raised a monument to his honor. Another 
monument was raised in the year 1875 on the summit of the Grotenberg, 
near Detmold, in honor of Arminius. The Emperor William was present at 
the ceremony and unveiled the statue. 

The Emperor at Ems. — Germany abounds in watering places, to which 
in summer everybody goes. One of the favorite resorts is Ems, on the 
Rhine, a few miles from Coblentz. It is a very pretty spot with plenty of 
trees and green banks, sloping to the waters edge, and over-hung with high 
wooded hills. The water of the springs is thought to be very beneficial for 
several diseases, especially of the throat and lungs. 

Jenny Lind so far recovered her voice during a short stay at Ems that 
she was able to sing at a concert with all her former power and clearness. 

Many celebrated people from all lands may be met at Ems, from kings 
and emperors down. There royalty is set aside and the rulers appear somewhat 
like ordinary mortals. The Emperor of all the Russias walks out unattended 
to take his morning glass of spring- water, but the town is full of Russian 



Germany. 



285 



detectives in plain clothes constantly on the watch for lnrking nihilists. A 
striking contrast to the careworn and troubled expression of the Czar is the 
jovial good humored face of the aged German emperor, always going about 




THE EMPEROR OF GERMANY. 



among his people full of good humor and gay spirits, idolized almost by 
his devoted subjects. He thrusts his cane playfully at a little German 
maiden, stops and talks with the boys, is affable and courteous to every- 
body. 



236 Persons and Places in JEurope. 

One morning, a lew years ago, there was considerable excitment at the 
chief hotel of Ems. The little host darted hither and thither very nervous 
and anxious. He had heard that the Emperor was coming in the afternoon 
to call upon one of the princesses who was stopping at his house, and he 
was anxious to give him a grand reception. He had a huge roll of carpet 
brought in to be laid down on the grand staircase and quantities of flowers 
to be scattered over the Emperor's pathway. But the little host did 
not wish his carpet to be soiled with other footsteps and his flowers 
withered and trampled before the Emperor came. So he posted his 
waiters about as scouts, to report at once when the Emperor was seen ap 
proaching. 

After much watching, bustling and talking a waiter rushed in, horror 
stricken. "The Emperor is here! he is this moment in the parlor of: 
Madame la Princess." 

The poor landlord was crestfallen. How did it happen ? 
It happened that the Emperor had come quietly along unattended, 
and turning in at a side entry had inquired the way to the Princess's apart- 
ment and so escaped Herr Huyn's watchful waiters. 

But the carpets and flowers must still be made to do honor to His Majesty, , 
and so they were laid with all haste on the back stairs. Then again all was i 
anxiety lest the Emperor should find his way out at the front entrance. 
Everybody watched and waited and at last the royal visitor was heard 
taking leave of the princess. Coming into the hall he noticed the change 
at once, and asked, " For whom has all this trouble been taken ?" 
" For you, sire," answered little Herr Huyn, reverently. 
" What a pity," said the Emperor, " to leave such lovely flowers to be 
trodden on by an old man like me," and stooping he picked up some of the 
most beautiful ones and handed them to the princess. One little blossom he 
fastened to his own coat. 

By such acknowledgments of displays, that he would avoid if possible, 
and in many other kindly ways, the Emperor William has endeared himself 
to the hearts of his people. 

It was here at Ems in 1871, that the French minister Benedetti persist- 
ently and impolitely pressed the Emperor, then King William of Prussia 
only, to promise that no Prussian prince should ever become a candidate 
for the throne of Spain. King William, refused to make any such promises 
and six days later war was declared between France and Prussia. 

Feedekick at Sans Souci.— The kings of Prussia have always been 



Germany. 



237 



noted more for their strict attention to the business of governing than for 
their love of display, and the one most regardless of appearances was the 
Great Frederick himself, who used to go about in a shabby old coat, and 




FREDERICK THE GREAT. 

who died without a decent shirt to his back. He had to be buried in one 
belonging to his valet. 

Though Frederick brought the Prussians out of the Seven Years' War, 
in which they were threatened on every side, with flying colors, and it is 
said without burdening the country with debt, yet the people were in a 



238 Persons and Places in Europe. 

desolate condition. One-sixth of all the able-bodied men had been killed, 
the fields were nnsown and the graneries empty. 

Frederick at once excused the people from paying taxes, and then ordered 
his household expenses on snch an economical plan that he was able to 
save a million of thalers every year to spend in improving the lands and 
industries of his subjects. 

The only matter in which Frederick was not economical was in building, 
but that could hardly be called wasteful extravagance, for it gave employ- 
ment to many needy workmen. One of his finest buildings was the palace 
of Sans Souci, where, his victories won, he settled down to a quite, busy life, 
devoted to the affairs of the nation. 

In his mode of life he was very regular and very industrious . For years 
he only allowed himself four hours of sleep out of twenty-four. In summer 
he usually rose at three, seldom in winter later than four, and never later 
than five. While in the hands of his hair dresser he opened his first 
packet of letters from Berlin. This contained only letters from nobles, 
stamped as such by the postmaster who mailed them. All others were 
opened by his secretaries. 

His hat was one of the first articles of dress donned, and it never left .his 
head except at dinner-time or during interviews with people of very high 
birth. His strict economy allowed no extravagance in dress, his uniform 
was often patched and threadbare, his boots red from age and want of black- 
ing. 

As soon as he was dressed his secretaries laid before him extracts from 
the letters they had opened, the various petitions and matters of business, 
and he told them what to say in reply. Then the Adjutant of the Royal 
Guard brought a report of all strangers who had arrived or departed the day 
before, a similar report was brought in from the officer at Berlin, and then 
the Adjutant- General came to discuss the affairs of the army. 

This finished, Frederick passed to his writing-room, drank several 
glasses of cold water flavored with fennel leaves, and at intervals while he 
wrote sipped coffee or tasted a little fruit which stood ready on a side table. 
He took pains to encourage the culture of choice fruits by giving large orders 
for every new variety. While in his writing-room, the king usually played 
for an hour upon his flute. He was a great lover of music and said that, 
instead of interfering with his business, often his happiest thoughts in 
matters of state came to him while playing on his favorite instrument. 

Between eight and ten o'clock he received his cabinet secretaries, separ- 



Germany.. 239 



lately and gave them their instructions. The time that remained before 
dinner he spent variously, reviewing his guards, walking out if it were 
pleasant, or through his parlors if it were stormy. Sometimes he received 
visitors/but only those of noble birth. He was not fond of coming m con- 
tact with common people. 

Twelve o'clock sharp was his dinner hour. Some times if the bill of fare 
contained a dish of which he was particularly fond, he hurried the meal on 
ten or fifteen minutes before the appointed time. He only took one regular 
meal a day, and that he made the source of as much gratification as possible. 
He gave especial attention to. his bill of fare, on which the names of the 
cooks always appeared with the dishes they had prepared. The viands that 
pleased him most he marked with a cross, and often wrote criticisms, 
corrections or amendments upon the paper. Of wine he always drank 
sparingly, and usually diluted it with water. . . -, .,, 

There were usually at the table from seven to ten invited guests with 
whom the king talked gaily, laughed and joked ; but his jokes were not 
always of the pleasantest kind, and caused his guests sometimes as much 
pain as the invitation to dinner could give pleasure ; in fact they usually 
came in fear of some unpleasant thrust. After dinner, which sometimes 
lasted until four o'clock, if there was an unusually witty assembly the 
king took another half-hour with his flute and then attended to the letters 
his secretaries had answered. Some he simply signed, to some he added a 
short postscript ; for instance, to a general who had asked leave to retire 
from the army, the secretary had written, according to Frederick s direction 
that he would consider his request. The postscript by the king added 
-The hens that will not lay I will not feed." To one who asked for 
money he writes, » I cannot give a single groschen, I am now as poor 

as Job." , . . . -, rr rt 

He cared little what complaints or criticisms his subjects made. He 
never persecuted them for their opinions or their remarks. "My people 
and I understand each other," he used to say; "theyare to say what they 
like and I am to do what I like." „ 

From six to seven there was usually a small concert, consisting of a few 
musicians of the highest rank, the king himself numbering one of the players 
The rest of the evening was spent in reading or lively conversation with 
distinguished guests ; when there were no visitors, one of his lecturers read 
aloud to him until his bed-time. 

Women had no part in the royal household; he had little regard for 



240 Persons and Places in Europe. 

them, and was always much irritated when any of his friends, soldiers or 
servants took to themselves wives. 

Bristling Bayonets.— Prussia is a land of muskets and armed men 
Every third man in the capital is a soldier off duty. Underneath the statue 
of the old soldier Frederick, his countrymen, armed to the teeth, are con- 
stantly passing and repassing in time of peace as well as in war, for Prussia 
has learned that the only way to maintain peace is to be ready for war. 

Each day at noon through the roar of the streets swells the finest mar- 
tial music, first a grand sound of trumpets, then a deafening roll from a 
Score of brazen drums. A heavy detachment of infantry wheels out from 
some barracks, ranks of strong brown-haired young men stretching from 
sidewalk to sidewalk. Squadrons in uniforms of green and red with pen- 
nons fluttering at the ends of their lances, ride up to salute the king. Fre- 
quent drills are held in the grand parade-ground in the outskirts, "officers 
in f ull uniform gather at the quarters of the main guard on Wnter den Linden 
to talk and listen to military music. 

They present a most striking appearance in their brilliant uniforms, hus- 
sars m red, blue, green and black, the king's body guard in white braided 
with yellow and silver helmets, flashing as if made of burnished gold and 
crested with an eagle. Every figure is straight and trim, perfectly developed 
by the systematic exercise of the training. 

Everything and every body in Prussia wears this military air. 
The little boys in the primary school carry their books and dinners 
in knapsacks strapped upon their backs, at the tap of the bell they march 
like veterans to the bugle call. The larger boys go through gymnastics 
which are but preparations for musket drills. Even the girls feed their 
minds upon military scenes in which their forefathers have taken a part 
and their teacher, a man who of course has been a soldier, glows with 
enthusiasm as the memories of his soldier days are recalled, and waxes 
eloquent in praise of military glory. 

The result of aU this training and preparations for the evils that may 
come, but which everybody hopes will not, are not simply the captured 
flags that decorate the Prussian arsenals, trophies of victories over Austria 
and France, but are to be seen in every department of life. The butcher 
baker, tailor and merchant are all hardier, for the physical training of their 
military life, and more prosperous for the discipline gone through in their 
younger years in the army. 

The Hanseatic League.— The foundation of Prussia's greatness was 



Germany. 241 

laid, not so much in war as in trade. Along the shore of the Baltic were a 
number of cities established and put in a flourishing condition by an order 
of chivalry known as the Teutonic Knights. Under their wise rule the cities 
grew and prospered, but they were sorely beset by pirates, who infested the 
sea and seized their trading vessels, and also by petty lords in the country 
round, who levied upon them burdensome taxes. 

To defend themselves from these attacks, delegates from the leading cities 
met together and agreed to band together and fit out such troops and ships 
as they needed to protect their commerce. This compact became known as 
the Hanseatic League, and so successful did they shortly become that all of 
the surrounding cities joined them. Taxes were freely contributed and they 
grew rich and powerful. The pirates were driven out of the seas, depots 
of trade were established at London, at Bruges, Novgorod and Bergan under 
protection of the league. From these points they sent out over all the sur- 
rounding regions the products of the home manufactures and received in 
return foreign goods, especially from the east, which brought large profits. 

In a little while they became so powerful that they could dictate terms 
to kings and princes . Vladmir III. of Denmark did not realize their strength 
when he played his trick upon the seventy "fat geese," as he called the 
Hansers who were sent to bring him to terms, and he paid dearly for it 
shortly afterward. They compelled him to fly from his throne, and did not 
allow him to come back until he agreed to do as they wished. 

But as all great powers are apt to do, the league began to take ad- 
vantage of and oppress their weaker neighbors. No cities could engage in 
trade but those of the league. The countries of Europe began to make war 
upon them and demand that their people too should have a chance to trade, 
for they saw now the importance of commerce. The great English and 
Dutch navies had become very powerful. Their great commanders, Van 
Tromp, De Ruyter and Blake, compelled for their vessels the right of enter- 
ing the Baltic and trading in any port, and the league was obliged to yield. 

But though the league was no more, the good it had accomplished 
remained; it had opened the way for commerce; it had shown kings and 
emperors that trade was a greater means of prosperity than war; and it had 
given to the people sale for the work of their hands, thus starting into 
growth the great industries that make the people prosperous. . 

Amber Gatherers. — A profitable business for many centuries on the 
northern coast of Germany is collecting amber, which is more abundant 
along the shores of the Baltic than in any other part of the world. It is 



242 Persons and Places in Europe. 

gathered in several ways. On rough autumn days when the northeast wind 
blows up rough waves, the coastmen go out with their nets in the face of the 
freezing spray and draw in the amber which the waves have washed up. 

On shore the women and children receive it and separate the pure sub- 
stance from the amber weed to which it clings. Again, on a calm summer 
morning, the boatmen go out and after peering eagerly into the glassy green 
waters for a few minutes plunge their hooks and pitch-forks into a mass of 
rock and sea-weed, which it taxes their strength to pull to the shore. The 
pieces collected in this way are much larger than those washed up by the 
waves. 

In other places the precious substance is brought up by divers. Encased 
in their rubber dresses, with their helmets and air chests of sheet-iron, they 
plunge down fifty fathoms or more into the world of the fishes. They see 
their way through the glass openings in the helmet which also keeps them 
supplied with air, being connected with the far-away air world by a long 
tube and kept full by air pumps in the boat. 

When they reach the amber-bed they begin hooking, dragging and tear- 
ing the masses from their long resting place, working sometimes four or 
five hours before they give the signal to be drawn up. 

The crew of a diving boat usually numbers six men, an overseer, two 
divers, four men to work the air pumps — two at a time, and one to hold the 
safety rope by which to haul the men up at the slightest signal from below. 

Near Munich, East Prussia, amber is obtained by dredging machines, 
which have brought up nearly sixty thousand pounds in a single season. 
It is also obtained in the eastern province of the Baltic by mining. One of 
these mines is said to have been discovered by a maiden while she was look- 
ing for blackberries in a dell near the shore. She saw something glistening 
in the sun and, picking it up, found it to be amber. Beneath the spot a 
large strata of embedded trees were found rich with the fossilized gum. 

When amber was first discovered among the barbarians who then lived 
along the shore of the Baltic, it was not held in very high esteem by them; 
some used it for kindling fires. But when the beauty loving Greeks 
saw it they called it the " tear drops of the goddess," and were willing to 
pay a good price for it. Pytheas, the old Greek navigator who lived in the 
time of Alexander the Great, was much interested in the substance which 
he thought was " the scum of the encrusted sea." The Greeks knew little 
then about a frozen ocean. 

The early Britons, who found some amber along their coasts, valued it 



Germany. 243 

very highly They considered it a charm against evil influences and always 
buried at least one bead in the graves of their dead. In the tomb of a chief 
at Wiltshire was found an amber necklace consisting of a thousand beads ; 
in another grave in Sussex was found a cup carved from a solid block of 
amber- in another a collar of two hundred beads and plates, which must 
have extended far over the shoulders. The perforations in these plates 
show that they had been made with great skill by a fine metallic borer. 

Some of the amber found in these old British graves is like that now 
washed up by the waves along the coast of Great Britain, but the most of it 
is a finer kind like that of the southern shores of the Baltic. When the 
Teutonic Knights ruled over this country they claimed all the amber as their 
own private property, and often paid all their court expenses with the money 
they derived from its sale. The Prussian kings also for a long time claimed 
exclusive right to the amber, and set guards to see that the people did not 
carry any of it away. Any one found trying to hide or sell it was hung 
upon gibbets kept standing there for that purpose as a warning. 

At the beginning of the present century the government granted the right 
of gathering amber to private contractors, and any person found helping him- 
self to the coveted substance may yet be arrested for theft. 

The nature of amber was a great mystery for a long time, but it is now 
known to be the gum of trees, which has been buried in the sands until it 
has become "fossilized." m ' ' 

The trees from which it once flowed stood in vast forests m the region o± 
the Baltic, and are now found buried beneath beds of sand and clay. The 
wood of these is full of amber which is also seen hanging from the embedded 
trunks in stalactites or mixed with the layer of sand beneath. 

The Toy-Makeks.— From the deep recesses of the living forests of Ger- 
many from the inky old trees that look in the distance like crowds of mourn- 
ers comes a perfect torrent of fun and good times for the little folks . From 
their lopped branches and felled trunks are turned the wonderful jointed 
dolls, the legions of wooden soldiers, the fleets of Noah's arks, the doll's 
houses, the chairs, tables, bricks, blocks, whips and rattles, that Santa 
Claus pours down the chimneys at Christmas time. Many wooden images 
of Santa Claus himself are carved out by the ingenious toy-makers of the 
German forests. 

In every house in these wooded regions, men, women and children may 
be seen cutting, carving, whittling, glueing and painting. The wood used 
is so soft that even the little children can begin to cut it as soon as they am 



; 



244 Persons and Places in Europe. 

able to manage a knife. As soon as they come home from school they pick 
np their wood and cut demurely away at a leg or an arm, the easiest part 
of whatever object the family has been in the habit of making. Each fam- 
ily keeps to the cat, or donkey, or soldier, or whatever it has been trained to 
make by its ancestors, and so no time is lost in getting the "knack" o 
new operations. The most skilful cow-makers would not think of attempt- 
ing a sheep or a dog. If the mother made goats, the children make goats, 
and nothing else. 

The easier and simpler objects are made by the women and the children, 
the men take the more difficult ones, such as chairs, fancy boxes 
brackets and crucifixes. 

In mining regions another class of toys are made. From thence come mar 
velous tin-trumpets, jingling carts, tiny tinkling pianos and music* 
glasses. Wurtembnrg is famous for this kind of toys, especially painted 
metal horses, stage coaches, cabs and omnibuses, ships and fire engines. 
Berlin, the city of military men, sends out smart metal soldiers, real cannons 
that will go off with a bang, tall fortresses, folding tents and pop-gun am- 
munition. 

Sonneberg, in northern Bavaria, is the city for girls. There are made the 
beautiful wax dolls that sit and stand alone, and open and shut their eyes. 

To get an idea of what the Germans really do in the toy-line one needs 
to visit the great Toy Fair, held at Liepsic every Easter. Here all kinds of 
toys that ever were known or invented line the streets of the city during 
the few days of the fair. How the sturdy little people of Leipsic do open 
their eyes and mouths in wonder, both at what they see and what they can 
not see for the boxes and wrappers around them! and how the large people, 
both the Leipsicians, the toy merchants from all parts of the world, and the 
toy makers from the forests, do chatter and smoke and drive bargains ! 
and how fast the swords and drums and cannon and doll-houses disappear 
when the merchants take their leave and toy-makers go home with the 
price of their hard earned labor in their pockets! 

Duesden China. — The perfection of skillful handwork is reached in the 
Dresden china works near that city. Here the people work, not in their 
homes, but in the large factories, where the whole process of the manufac- 
tures may be watched from the time the flower-like clay leaves the pulver- 
izers till it emerges from the finishers in plates, cups and saucers, wonderful 
vases and vessels of all kinds. 

In one of the galleries of the manufactory, from which various work- 



Germany. 245 

rooms open, is a most curious collection of moulds, bodies without heads, 
legs, or arms, right legs, left legs, with and without shoes, birds, animals, 
and fishes of every description. 

In one of the workrooms is an army of workmen to whom is given the 
contents of the moulds, after it has had one baking and is still yielding 
With astonishing quickness they take a body, put on its arms, legs, and 
head brushing them a little with a camels hair brush and water to make 
them stick Then with small agate tools they mark the finger nails, deepen 
the eyelids, round the arms or the cheek, pat it a little on one side and then 
the other and behold a perfect shepherdess, or a dashing courtier. 

In another room the delicate operations of the " raised china " is going on. 
Dainty little leaves are roUed out by quick and skillful fingers. Rose petals, 
one by one are curled, patted into shape and stuck into place. Each part 
of the tiny forget-me-not is made by itself, and put in place with fairy-like 
pincers and thus the work goes on until the bouquet is completed and placed 
in the lap of the pretty dancing girl who has been brought from the leg and 
arm department to receive it. m 

After this the poor dancing girl, with the shepherdess, the courtier and 
a great company of similar people must go to the oven for another baking; 
then to the glazing tub for a dipping, and then to the painters. This visit 
does not produce the appearance one would expect for the colors when first 
put on are duU. Even what is to be gold, comes from their hands a dull 
brown, but after another baking and then a brisk rubbing in the burnishing 
room, this dark dusky brown turns to a gold that glitters. 

Just before the final baking, every piece of Dresden china is taken to the 
superintendent, and if he considers it perfect, he stamps it with the Dresden 
trade-mark— two crossed swords ; if it is imperfect he draws a white line 
through the swords and then it is sold at the " rejected shop." 

The fine porcelains used in Europe, used to be all made by the Chinese. 
Europeans tried in vain to discover the secret of the process and many ex- 
periments were made resulting in very good wares, such as the Dutch Delft- 
ware, but it was long before the art of making true porcelain was discovered, 
— and then it was by chance. 

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, Augustus, king of Poland 
and elector of Saxony, employed a young chemist named Bottcher to search 
for the philosopher's stone, which was then a favorite idea among some wise 
heads. In the course of his experiments, the young chemist hit upon a 
preparation that produced a hard stone ware, red and brown, resembling 



•240 Persons and Places in Europe. 

porcelain. The importance of his discovery was at once seen, and for several 
years he kept np his experiments hoping to be able soon to produce pure 
porcelain. 

One day his valet came home with a new kind of hair powder which he 
had purchased in Dresden, and which was so unusually heavy that the 
chemist thought he would try it in one of his pastes. The result was true 
porcelain. Upon inquiring as to where the powder came from, it was found 
to be a clay from near Dresden, which was exactly the same as the kaolin 
used by the Chinese. 

The whole matter was kept a secret, and a factory set up at Meisen near 
Dresden. The workmen engaged in it were shut up and guarded like prison- 
ers. But in spite of all their care the secret leaked out, and in a few years 
was spread all over Europe. 

The Kkupp Guns. — The mammoth manufactory of Germany is the Essen 
steel works owned by Mr. Alfred Krupp. Nearly a thousand acres are 
covered by his furnaces, ovens, forges, etc. Inside of their belching, smoking 
shops many gigantic and interesting operations are carried on. One of these 
is the emptying of the crucibles. 

At a given signal the furnace doors fly open and an army of workmen bear- 
ing long tongs, rush out with the red hot jars to the pits. The melted iron is 
poured in one, and the empty crucible thrown in another. The heat is 
almost unbearable to those not used to it, and it seems almost a miracle that 
the men can rush about in it and perform their work. 

Another interesting spectacle is the working of the immense steam 
hammers, one of which weighs 50 tons. A mass of red hot iron is swung over 
the anvil by three or four workmen, and "■Fritz," as the iron monster is called, 
comes down, sometimes with a tremendous crash that seems to shake the 
earth, sometimes with a gentle pressure, and sometimes with a soft tap, just 
as he is bid by his master, the foreman. 

"While these terrific operations are going on in one quarter, in another 
workmen are handling the minutest weights and measures and listening to 
every shade of sound in the iron under their inspection, careful that no Haw 
shall escape them. 

Tests are applied to the iron all the way through its course in the shops. 
If a load of iron when brought to them is found to have one bad piece, the 
whole is rejected ; and after every process, fresh tests are applied. Some- 
times after a machine is nearly finished, one part will give a suspicious ring, 
and the whole is instantly condemned. 



Germany. 



247 



It is this care rigidly practised by Mr. Krupp over aU parts of his work, 
Together with his constant motto of "improvement," that has been the 
secret of his success. He is determined that every wheel, axel and pulley, 
that leaves his shop, as well his more important works, his boilers, steamer 
shafts and guns, shall be absolutely perfect. In this way he has established 
a reputation that few manufacturers enjoy. 

The most important of all Mr. Krupp's products is his celebrated guns. 
These too have attained their fame by constant attention to faults and im- 
provements. In one large room of the great factory is ranged a line of 
guns each one a specimen of those turned out at different stages of develop- 
ment. The first is a rude affair, hardly worthy of comparison with the per- 
fect monster of destruction that stands last in the line. 

In 1864 when the Prussians were fighting the Danes, frequent com- 
plaints came back to Mr. Krupp about the guns with which he had furnished 
his Government. A number of them had burst and some people thought it 
was because he had used poor material. But he knew better, and he studied 
and experimented to remedy the fault which he knew to be m the pattern 
of the gun. When the Franco-Prussian war broke out, vast numbers of his 
guns were ordered, and not one of them ever burst upon the field, though 
some were discharged nearly three thousand times. 

The Printers' JuBiLEE.-In the year 1840 the people of Leipsic held a 
grand celebration, the programme of which, published beforehand, was as 

follows : .__ , 

" On the 24th the bells will ring a merry peal and the morning will be 
ushered in by music from the church towers and by a reveille through the 
streets. At eight o'clock the magistrates and different companies, with all 
their guests, walk in procession to hear divine service in one of the churches. 
" At ten o'clock the festive procession will proceed through the principal 
streets to the market place, on which three temporary buildings have been 

erected. • . 

" On the arrival of the procession a cantata, composed for the occasion by 
Mendelssohn, will be sung ; at the conclusion of which the building m the 
centre will be opened and disclose type founders and printers in full activity. 
A song will be printed with the fresh cast types, distributed among the 
public, and sung in general chorus. At three o'clock about three thousand 
persons will sit down to dinner in the building erected before the university, 
and in the evening the town will be illuminated. 

" The morning of the 25th will be devoted to a conversazione and to an 



248 Persons and Places in Bur ope. 

exhibition of all subjects connected with typography ; in the afternoon there 
will be a grand mnsical performance under the direction of Mendelssohn, 
consisting of a symphony with chorus composed by him expressly for this 
feast, and other pieces. In the evening there will be a ball. 

" The last day will be devoted to public amusements, concluding with fire- 
works and a procession of torches. The st according to custom will be 
extinguished at the market place amidst music and a general chorus." 

All of this great celebration was in honor of the humble workman who 
four hundred years ago and over gave to the world the art of printing. 
Nearly every city in Germany now remembers the anniversary year of his 
great invention, and celebrates it with much pomp and gladness. A statue 
of him, by the Danish sculptor Thorwaldsen, was erected in Mentz, his native 
place, in 1837, another in Strasburg 1840. 

A German Student.— Foremost in the long list of Germany's noted 
men stands that of Alexander von Humboldt, the great naturalist, who 
traveled all over the world studying aU branches of natural history; ' made 
valuable discoveries, wrote books and gave a new start to the study of nearly 
every branch. When he was quite a young boy his desire to see the world was 
awakened by the account of Captain Cook's voyages, which first came out 
at that time. He longed for a chance to travel and explore the wonders 
of foreign countries, not simply for the sake of adventure, but that he might 
learn all about the wonderful things in the world of nature. He wanted to 
see the constellations that shine over the southern pole ; he wanted to 
see the plants and animals of the hot countries, and compare them with 
those of his own, which he was very fond of studying. 

Fortunately for the world he did not have an opportunity of traveling 
until he was prepared to make good use of it. He had a wise father and 
mother, who provided good tutors for him and his brother ; and his own 
desire to know things made him a dilligent student. He did not learn as 
quickly as some, but by having to work hard for what he gained, he acquired 
the habit of dilligent and careful study. 

The amount of knowledge this man gained during his life and travels 
was something wonderful. After taking the regular university course he 
studied manufactures and the Greek language. He studied the flowerless 
plants and grasses. He studied the science of language; went to a mercan- 
tile library in Hamburg and learned book-keeping and counting-house 
affairs, and the modern languages. Then he went to a mining academy in 
Freiburg and studied mining. While in the mines he discovered some 



Germany. 



249 



plants growing far beneath the surface of the ground, and he made a study 
of them, and the classes to which they belonged. This led him to try 
experiments in the color of plants shut out of the light and surrounded by 
gasses. The results of his experiments he published in a small book. 

He then made a study of the science of the earth's formation, from observa- 
tions made in exploring one of the Bohemian mountains. He explored the 
mining districts of upper Bavaria and various ports of Prussia, and made 
experiments with fire damp. He studied practical astronomy and learned 
to use the sextant for finding positions 
on the earth's surface. 

Then he was able to start out on 
his long desired visit to foreign lands 
for the purpose of further scientific 
studies. 

He visited the great volcanoes of 
Italy. He made botanical, astrono- 
mical, and magnetic observations in 
Spain. Here he was warmly received 
by King Charles IV., and fitted out 
with all necessary instruments for very 
extensive scientific studies in all the 
Spanish possessions in America. 

He reached Venezuela first, where 
he spent 18 months in explorations ; % 
he went through the wild regions of the 
Orinoco; surveyed the high plateau of 
Bogota and Quito, and the snow- 
capped volcanoes surrounding it. He 

ascended nearly to the top of Ohimborazo, crossed the Andes into Peru, 
where he took observations of the transit of Mercury. He visited the vol- 
canoes and measured the heights of Mexico, and made a profile of the coun- 
try from sea to sea; the first that had ever been made. From Mexico he 
sailed to Havana, thence to Washington, and called on President Jefferson ; 
and then, having spent five years in America, made many important obser- 
vations, valuable collections in all departments of natural science and 
geography, studied the races, and taken many important statistics, he 
returned home, still keeping up his studies upon every subject that came 
within his observation as before. He printed as the result of his travels, 
scientific works on astronomy, zoology and botany. 




ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 



250 Persons and Places in Europe. 

A few years afterwards lie decided to take another scientific tonr in Asia, 
which, he did after studying the eastern languages. There he made more im- 
portant observations, and on his return published more valuable books. 
During this time he was engaged by different European sovereigns to help 
them on various political matters. He was especially biisy in 1830, the year 
of the French and Belgic revolutions. 

He was kept going about from Paris to Berlin, to Warsaw and St. Peters- 
burg, on political missions, and all the time he kept up his scientific studies 
during spare time, and prepared his books for publication. 

Humboldt lived to be ninty years old, and left behind him the most valuable 
accumulation of observations and scientific treaties that ever the world had 
gained from one single man. 

The Reformation Symphony. — One line in which the German nation 
have excelled all others is that of music. The master-pieces of harmony 
and melody that sprang from the brain of Bach, Handel, Mozart, Mendelssohn, 
Beethoven, Wagner and their contemporaries have delighted the world, 
and refined the tastes of thousands of people. Thoughts as sublime as ever 
painters put upon canvas, these great composers have expressed in music. 
Their works have swayed multitudes as no paintings have ever been known 
to do. The " Massaneillo " of Auber, the French composer, was the match 
that lighted the kindlings of the Belgic Revolution in 1830. The stout- 
hearted defenders of Leyden, who never quailed before the threats of the 
terrible Alva, broke down completely while singing their hymn of thanksgiv- 
ing ; and the persecuted Protestants of Germany and the Netherlands, during 
all the early years of the Reformation, found their greatest comfort in singing 
' ' Luther' s Hymn . ' ' 

During the same year in which the excited Belgians listened to the 
"Massaneillo," the great German composer, Mendelssohn, then in his twenty- 
first year, composed his " Reformation Symphony." The Protestants were 
preparing for a grand celebration of the third centennial of Luther's confes- 
sion at Augsburg, and Mendelssohn intended to have his symphony per- 
formed at that time, but there was so much ill-feeling between the Catholics 
and Protestants that it was thought best to postpone the symphony, 
which might unduly excite the people. Two years later it was performed 
at Berlin under thecomposers direction, but it was not published until after 
his death. 

The symphony opens with a quiet, serious strain of organ music, represent- 
ing the undisturbed state of religion previous to the Reformation. 



Germany. 251 

To show which religion then prevailed, the wind instruments give out an 
ancient Catholic response, often heard in the services of the Church of 
Rome. It mingles with, but does not disturb the serious organ strain, which 
ends as calmly as it began. Then begins a light strain with quick confused 
notes that seem to warn of coming conflict. The solemn response, slow and 
sedate, then breaks in as if it would drown the light notes, but instead they 
only grew louder and higher, and the response more and more imperative, 
as if it would demand peace. The close of this first part of the symphony 
is a grand climax of passionate sound, each part loud and distinct, as 
though it were impossible to tell which would triumph. 

Next the musician introduces a light, playful little strain, as if by it he 
wished to express weariness with the conflict between the creeds, and a de- 
sire to look upon the fields and flowers and listen to the song of birds. It 
is simple, natural,, and so full of sweetness that it rarely fails of being 
encored by the audience. Returning again to the subject, the violins bring 
out the most pathetic music, supposed to represent the prayers of the 
reformers for help and guidance. It is immediately followed by the well- 
known song of the reformers— Luther's Hymn— "Mnfeste Burg ist unser 
Gott." This is played alone on the flute, as if to show a heavenly response 
to the prayer. Other instruments then join in and bring out grandly the fine 
old hymn. Again the old religion is represented charging furiously upon 
the new ; and then sometimes the "Mn feste Burg," seems to be lost in a 
maze of sounds, but again it comes in, more distinctly than before, until at 
the last the whole orchestra joins in the opening bars of the hymn, pro- 
claiming the success of the reformers. 



CHAPTER XL 

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 

Austria, or Austria-Hungary, since its union with the once subjected 
province, is a land of beautiful scenery, of rich underground treasures, of 
exceedingly fertile soil, and of state craft. Prussia's position in Europe is 
due to her soldiers, while Austria's is due to her statesmen. 

The surface of Austria is very mountainous . It is surrounded by the Alps 
and Carpathians. Three large ranges, sending out branches in every direction, 
cut the country up into numerous basins ; Bohemia, the large northwestern 
province, is entirely surrounded by a circular wall of mountains, which has 
given it the name of " Kettle-land." 

Transylvania, on the opposite side, is nearly surrounded. The central part 
of Hungary is a basin tipped toward the Danube, into which it pours its 
contents. The small provinces in the west are all cut up by rocky walls. 

Tyrol, the most western, bristles with peaks and crags all through the 
interior as well as around its edge. This part of the country is much like 
Switzerland, which joins it on the west, and is as greatly celebrated for 
beautiful scenery. 

The Dolomite Mountains. — In Tyrol are the celebrated Dolomite moun- 
tains, named after the French scientist, Mr. Dolomien, whose interesting 
studies and descriptions first brought them their reputation. These moun- 
tains are a mass of dazzling white pinnacles, very different from ordinary 
elevations . They are not snow-capped, nor of chalk formation, like the white 
cliffs of England ; their whiteness is that of the pure magnesian lime stone, 
of which they are composed . They are not huge rounded or ungainly masses 
like most of their neighbors, but tall slender spires, delicate peaks and pinna- 
cles rising up like sharp horns . In some places these spires are so numer- 
ous and slender that they might be taken for a bundle of huge bayonets 01 
sword blades, in others they look like a row of gigantic alligator teeth. 

They have also a threatening look as if they were an army of sentinels, 



Austria- Hung ary . 



253 



whose duty it was to stand with uplifted swords ready to drive out invaders. 
They are as solemn and silent as they are stern. No heavy blankets of snow 
cling to their sides, sending down thundering avalanches or musical streams. 
Their appearance is ever-changing with the conditions of sky and atmos^ 
phere. A likeness seen one day will seldom appear the next ; a description 
true for one time will not be again. On certain days they look like vertical 
sheets of gray paste-board, with jagged edges outlined against the lighter 
sky. Again like a mass of cold gray stone, rising high out of the green slopes 









VIENNA, FROM THE UPPER TERRACE OP BELVEDERE PALACE. 

at their feet, cheerless, frowning, pitiless and cruel. But under strong sun- 
shine they are mellowed with the warmest of creamy and ruddy glows, even 
the broad blackened patches of the older exposures taking on a warm blue 
tone, and the fresh fissures revealing streaks of snowy whiteness, reminding 
one of loaf sugar. And again when lit up by the red rays of sunset, their 
splintered pinnacles look like so many flickering flames. 

A Mountain of Salt.— Northeast of the Tyrol, in the province of Salz- 
burg, is a range of mountains whose attractions are all on the inside. These 
contain the extensive salt deposits of Hallein, from which thousands of tons 
are produced every year. 



254 Persons and Places in Europe. 

The salt is mixed with earth, and has to be obtained by soaking it out of 
the montain with water. Pits and galleries are cut into the rock until a favor- 
able spot is reached, and there a small chamber is dug out. Pipes are laid 
leading down to it from above, and also leading out from it to the foot of the 
mountain, and in these are placed valves which can be opened and shut at 
pleasure. 

When all is ready, water is run into the chamber through the first set of 
pipes until it is completely filled. The roof and sides becoming soaked 
with water, crumble and fall to the bottom and the salt dissolves, converting 
the water into strong brine. In a few weeks the brine is strong enough to 
be drawn off. Then the valves are opened and it flows out through the pipes, 
leaving the clay and marl upon the floor of the chamber. The workmen 
then go in, throw out the stones and rubbish, make the floor level, and then 
spread upon it a layer of sticky clay, well kneaded and packed down so as 
to make the chamber water tight. Then it is tilled again and more of the 
mountain put to soak. Some thirty or forty chambers lie one above 
another in regular stories. - In one the workmen will be busy hardening the 
floor while above their heads, with only a few feet of earth between, is a great 
cistern of brine, and perhaps several more above that- On each side are 
other chambers which sometimes approach so near that dykes have to be 
built to keep the water from melting down the partitions. Accidents rarely 
occur from these causes, however, as the engineers are watchful, but some- 
times unknown to the workmen a hidden spring in the mountain gradually 
wears away the floor of the chamber that has been dug out too near it, and 
lets the contents down into another with a force that carries down several 
more, and creates general destruction. 

Each chamber, as the water eats away its roof and leaves a layer of clay 
upon its floor, keeps rising until it reaches after a time what has been the 
floor of the one above it ; but that too has been creeping upward, and so 
they go on until the salt in that portion of the mountain has been all extrac- 
ted. 

The brine from the salt chambers is led down the sides of the mountain 
through wooden pipes to the " salt pans," or evaporating house in the val- 
ley, sometimes miles away. When the wood necessary for boiling the 
brine is exhausted in one valley, the pans are set up in another, and the brine 
carried there, as it is more expensive to cart fuel to the evaporators than it is 
to lengthen the pipes enough to carry the brine a distance of forty or fifty 
miles if necessary. The salt pans are composed of small plates of iron, 




DOLOMITE MOUNTAINS. 



256 Persons and Places in JEurope. 

stoutly riveted together ; are about two feet deep, forty feet long and fifteen 
wide, and are laid upon pillars of fireproof brick. Beneath them a tremen- 
dous fire is kept up for a fortnight day and night, the salt being taken out 
as fast as it crystalizes and fresh brine run in. 

While the fire is raging a leak sometimes occuis in the pan, which must 
be mended without putting out the flames. A man shod with pattens, high 
enough to keep his feet out of the boiling brine, wades through to the break, 
and repairs it with the hissing, steaming brine and roaring fire all around 
him. 

There are many salt deposits all over Austria, but one of the most re- 
markable is the great bed of rock salt in Gfalicia, near Cracow. It extends 
over a distance of several hundred miles, but only a portion of it is wor,ked. 
At Wieliczka numerous shafts have been sunk, and galleries at seven differ- 
ent levels quarried out. From each of these run a labyrinth of passages 
and chambers, reaching more than 500 miles within the heart of the moun- 
tain. In one of the galleries, now no longer worked, is a large lake over 600 
feet long and forty deep. 

Another has been fitted up as a chapel dedicated to St. Anthony, in which 
the altar, statues, columns, pulpit and all are hewn out of solid salt. 

Underground Wonders. — The mineral treasures of Austria comprise 
nearly all of the precious stones, as well as the coarser products. Chalce- 
dony, ruby, emerald, jasper, amethyst, topaz, carnelian, chrysolite and 
beryl, are found; besides alabaster, gypsum, black lead, marble, zinc, iron, 
silver and gold. Iron is found nearly every were, and the coal beds are 
almost inexhaustible. The richest quicksilver mine in Europe, excepting 
that of Almaden, in Spain, is at Idria, in Carniola. 

Where the interior of the earth does not contain treasures, it abounds in 
mammoth caves, grottos, caverns and underground passages, lakes and riv- 
ers. All the southwestern strip facing the Adriatic Sea is hollowed out by 
these caverns. At Adelsberg, in the Julian Alps, is the largest one in 
Europe. Its walls and roofs shine with brilliant spar as if they were' set 
with gems, and in all the rooms and passages are curious shapes, resem- 
bling things of the upper world, as if Nature had been repeating them here 
in statuary. On entering a roaring noise is heard, which grows louder and 
louder, until the narrow passage opens into a gigantic chamber. Here the 
light of the torches reveals a black chasm through which a river is thunder- 
ing along fifty feet below. This chamber, which was once supposed to be 
the extent of the cave, is only the vestibule. A laborer working here some 



Austria-Hungary . 



257 




liiiii : li!lsw 






years ago, accidentally broke the screen 6f stalactite that had closed the 
way to the rest of the cavern. 

Beyond this rims a passage a mile or more in length, spreading ont occa- 
sionally into great halls, where glittering stalactites have extended down- 
wards until they touch the 
floor . Groups of these have 
grown together, forming 
gigantic columns, from the 
top of which pillars branch 
off with slender arches run- 
ning along the roof in deli- 
cate tracery. 

Sometimes the rich white 
stone streams down in ruf- 
fles, brilliantly transparent, 
sometimes it spreads out 
into branches and leaves, 
cleaving to the crevices of 
the cavern, like a tree grow- 
ing in ruins. Sometimes the 
stone starts up from the 
floor in tall masses like sol- 
emn sentinels sheeted in 
white. 

In one place is a great 
white lion ready to spring, 
in another a spreading ban- 
yan tree, here a bell, which 
resounds when struck; there 
a pulpit, where a guide ap- 
pears gesticulating like a 
preacher; or a barred win- 
dow, behind which he again 
places himself playing pris- 
oner in his cell. Chandeliers 

and curtains hang in graceful drapery from the roof. Cats and birds are 
perched about. Everywhere the beautiful white limestone paves the floors, 
hangs in pendants from the roof, coats and plasters the walls, cements to- 




SALT MINES OF WIELICZKA. 



258 Persons and Places in Europe. 

getlier the fallen masses of rock, forms screens, partitions and pillars. Be- 
sides the wonderful sights, wonderful sounds may be produced by tiring 
off a pistol. The report is carried from cave to cave in a series of sharp 
explosions, each one growing fainter, until it has reached the farthest cham- 
ber, then the echo comes rolling back in a loud roar like a peal of thunder. 

The largest apartment is the ball-room, where every year in May, the 
Illyrian peasants come in excursion trains from all the surrounding cities 
with several military bands, and have a grand dance. The fallen stalactites 
broken into glittering sand, cover the floor, and a mass of white rock, run- 
ning along the sides forms seats for the company; another serves as an 
orchestra for the musicians. The air is soft and warm, like that of any 
ordinary ball-room, — this apartment being much higher than the others. The 
sounds of mirth and music on such occasions, echoing through the far- 
away chambers and the brilliant lights, reflected in a thousand sparks from 
the glistening walls, make up a scene most weird and grand. 

" The Blue Danube/' — All the beauty that the Germans claim for the 
Rhine, the Austrians claim — and not without good grounds — for the 
Danube, the " beautiful blue Danube " ; but the blueness, travelers say, is 
not so marked as one would suppose, from the " Strauss" Waltzes. The 
Danube is the second river of Europe in size ; it drains all the large basins 
of Austro-Hungary ; is the artery of travel for Austria, and abounds in beau- 
tiful scenery. 

The finest views are found between Passau and Pesth, with the exception 
of a short distance at the southeastern extremity of the country, where the 
Iron Gate frowns down upon the rushing current. Between here and Vienna 
the river swarms with boats, barges and rafts, carrying lumber, grain and 
all the various products of the rich resources of Austria. Some of the rafts 
are very large, and contain small houses for the family of the owner. A 
number of them floating along together look like floating villages, with 
children playing about and men lounging or smoking on the decks. 

After passing Pesth, the country through which the Danube courses 
begins to grow wilder. Tall, silent mountains, clad with dark woods, 
gloomy forests, sloping down to the water's edge from the tops of high hills; 
dainty white cottages, pictursque villages, and ruined castles, once the 
abode of robber chiefs, lie along the banks. Numerous old monasteries 
peer out from their surrounding fir trees, and many places noted in history 
meet the visitor at every turn. 

At Duvvenstein is the old castle where Duke Leopold VI. kept Richard 



Austria-Hungary. 



259 



Cour de Leon so long a prisoner, and where his faithful minstrel found him 
at last by singing before his prison. There are several places besides Duv- 
venstein that claim this honor. _ 

At Vienna the Emperor Maximillian entertained three kings one day, 
and by great tact so disposed of his children that Bohemia, Hungary and 
Moravia came to be part of Austria. Here also John Sobieski saved Christ- 
endom from the Turks. % 

At Buda, opposite Pesth, Attila, the terrible Hun, had his camp at one 




SOUKCE OF THE DANUBE. 

time, and as nearly as can be learned, died here on the night of his marriage 
with the beautiful Ildico of Burgundy. 

At Mohacs, further south, was fought the great battle between Louis of 
Hungary and Solyman the Magnificent, which ended in disaster for Louis,, 
and made all Hungary a Turkish province. But in the same place, one hun- 
dred years afterward, Charles of Lorraine turned the day against the Turks 
and completed Sobieski' s conquests. 



260 Persons and Places in Europe. 

The Turks at Vienna. — The danger that threatened Austria in the year 
1683, when the Turks appeared in great hords before Vienna, was one shared 
by all the nations of Europe. For more than a hundred years the Moslems 
had been extending their conquests to the north, trying to get a foot-hold on 
the Baltic. They had thrown themselves upon Poland in a number of furious 
attacks, but the iron hand of John Sobeiski had hurled them back again. 

The other nations had looked on without offering any assistance to the 
struggling Poles,*surrounded and many times outnumbered by their enemies. 
The jealous kings had even persuaded some of Sobeiski' s nobles to desert 
him, and Louis XIV. ordered home the Frenchmen who of their own accord 
had entered his service. 

But now Austria, instead of Poland, was the threatened point, and the 
Emperor Leopold was obliged to beg of Sobeiski, whom he had injured and 
plotted against, to come to his deliverance. He sent the most imploring 
petitions. His messenger actually flung himself at the feet of the King of 
Poland, and begged him to come. He offered his daughter to Sobieski's son 
in marriage, and Louis XIV. of France, alive now to the danger that threat- 
ened his own empire if Austria were conquered by the Turks, also joined in 
the entreaties. On the other hand Mahomet tried to secure his friendship, 
promising to leave him undisturbed, if he remained neutral. 

None of these inducements had any weight with Sobeiski, for he knew 
that the Turks meant to conquer all Europe if they could, and in defence of 
Christendom he consented to go. 

The Turks had made the most elaborate preparations for this invasion. 
For seven years they had been drawing men and money from all parts of their 
dominion, which now extended from the Indian Ocean to the Adriatic, and 
southward as far as the upper waters of the Nile. In their ranks were soldiers 
from the Euphrates and the Nile, and whole tribes of Arabs, Kourds, Mame- 
lukes, Greeks, Albanians and Tartars. Two thousand camels had been em- 
ployed for years in carrying corn to stations along the Danube ; the river was 
covered with their boats, and all merchant vessels passing their way had been 
seized and pressed into service. This was the enemy, 300,000 strong, that 
Sobieski was called to drive from Vienna. 

While he was collecting his forces he begged Leopold to throw up for- 
tifications around the city and put it in a defensible condition, but the Em- 
peror left the city with all haste, and paid no attention to Sobieski's appeal. 

Hastening forward with a little band of 18,000 Poles, and about twice as 
many Germans, not a fifth of the Turkish hosts, Sobieski had nearly reached 



Austria- Hungary. 26i 

the city before they were aware that he was coming. Then the Moslem army 
was panic-stricken. Presently Sobieski and his allies appeared descending 
from the hills back of Vienna. Bnt his men were hnngry and tired from 
their loner march, and Sobieski ordered a halt that they might eat and rest. 
1 He was abont to pnt off the battle nntil the next day, when he saw by 
the position the Tnrks were in, that they conld be routed at once. 

« The enemy is lost," he cried, and ordered an immediate charge. Sur- 
rounded by his squadrons he rushed straight on toward the crimson tent 
where the Vizier, in contempt for the Christian, had just gone to take coffee 
with his sons. " By Allah ! the King is with them," cried the frightened 
Turks as they recognized Sobieski' s golden quiver and magnificent buckler 
dashing towards them as of old. " Heaven is against us," they cried and 
ran for their lives. The Vizier tried in vain to rally them, and to save him- 
self was obliged to follow his flying troops. 

Such surprise and excitement as there was in Vienna that day! lne 
people surrounded Sobieski, called him their savior, their deliverer, and 
kissed his hands, his feet and his coat. His officers and soldiers too crowded 
around him, embracing him, and called him their brave king. But the Em- 
peror Leopold, a mile and a half away, never so much as came to thank him. 

Leopold and His Contemporaries. -Leopold, who fled from before the 
Turks, and refused to acknowledge the services Sobieski had rendered him, 
was the most weak-minded and incapable member of the House of Haps- 
burg that ever occupied the throne of Austria. While on each side he was 
surrounded by the most energetic, ambitious, and powerful rulers of modern 
times. During the age in which he lived despotic governments reached 

their climax 

In Russia was Peter the Great, who having shut up his sister, was work- 

ing wonders for the land of the Muscovite. 

In Sweden, Charles XII. was earring out his brilliant career, having 
received from his father the newly acquired privilege of ruling as he pleased. 

In England despotism had been overthrown during the reign of Charles 
I., but was revived again under Cromwell, who for a few years ruled entirely 

by the sword. , 

Prussia, just freed from Poland, was beginning her career under Fred- 
erick William the Great Elector, great-grandfather of Frederick the Great. 

Poland, well on its decline, was struggling against the Turks under John 
Sobieski, who ruled as well as the discords of the jealous nobles would 
allow. 



262 Persons and Places in Europe. 

In France, Louis XI V., was carrying matters with a high hand. His 
ministers were mere clerks. He made war when and with whom he pleased. 
He invaded Holland, which was saved only by opening her dykes ; he took 
Flanders and Franche-Comte from the Netherlands, Luxemburg from Ger- 
many, and put his grandson on the throne of Spain in opposition to the 
claim of Leopold's brother Charles, causing by this the war of the Spanish 
succession, which was in progress when Leopold died. 

But the Emperor of Austria was saved from his enemy Louis by the 
valiant Prince Eugene, a Frenchman, who had become embittered against 
Louis, and declared that he would never enter France again save as an 
enemy. He entered the service of the Austrian emperor, carried to a suc- 
cessful close the war against the Turks, and won the battle of Blenheim, 
which turned the tide of fortune against Louis. 

The House of Hapsbukg. — The royal family of Austria, called the 
House of Hapsburg, has played a very important part in the history of 
Europe. Its founder was not an Austrian, but a Swiss count who lived 
near Brugg on the river Aar. His house was called the " Hawks Castle," 
which is the meaning of Hapsburg. This count, Rudolph of Hapsburg, was 
a nephew of Frederick II. of Germany, at whose court he was brought up. 
He was a brave warrior, won many battles, and as he was also kind and just, 
he was chosen by many cities as their protector, and the leader of their 
armies. This was in the feudal times, when governments were not able to 
protect the weak from wrongs. About 1264 he was made chief magistrate 
of Zurich, and soon afterwarcl, when his uncle died, he was elected Emperor 
of Germany. 

Not long after his coronation he marched against Ottocar, the Duke of 
Austria, who had been one of the candidates for the throne of Germany, and 
who refused to acknowledge his rival Rudolph as the emperor. The Haps- 
burgian took away from him the duchy of Austria, which had once been a 
German province, but had become independent, and some other provinces 
beside. Thus the House of Hapsburg came into possession of Austria, which 
they raised to a great power. 

The maxim of the Hapsburgs has always been to enlarge their borders, and 
strengthen themselves against their enemies by weddings instead of wars. 
Whenever a danger threatened the empire a royal son or "daughter, brother or 
sister, was given in marriage to some powerful prince, who would bring wealth 
or influence to Austria. Sometimes the enemy himself was won over or concili- 
ated by such an alliance. In this way the empire kept growing until the time 



Austria- Hungary. 263 

of Maximillian, who made more brilliant marriage bargains than all the other 
TTirmbnrcs before or since. . 

Ftathe acquired the Netherlands and Franche-Comte by marrying Mary 
of Burgundy ; he put his son Philip on the throne of Spain by marrying him 
to the daughter of the Spanish monarch, and with one great stroke he gained 
Hungary, Bohemia and Moravia by disposingof his grandson Ferdinand to 
Anna of Hungary, sister of Lonis II. 

Maria There a and hie Hungarian N BLE S .-Under the misrule of 
the weak-minded Leopold, the Hungarians broke out in rebellion. They 
were brouo-ht back by his sons, Joseph I. and Charles VI., but the relations 
had hardlv become pleasant when Charles died and his daughter, Maria 
Theresa, became Empress. It had not been the custom to recognize women 
as he'rs before this, and Charles had made great exertions to obtain from all 
Ss nobles and the surrounding sovereigns a promise that his daughter 
should be recognized as his successor. But he was hardly m his grave 
before they forgot their promises. Frederick the Great marched into feile- 
ria the kfngs of Spain and Poland each claimed a portion of her territory 
and Louis XV. of France, having no claim of bis own to make, sided with 
those who had. Only George II. of England took her pan. 

In This distress the young Empress decided to appeal to the Hungarian 
nobt though she was told it would be useless, « : they toe > h *d declar d 
that they would not be ruled by a woman. She went to Presburg and clad 
n Hungarian costume, with the crown of Saint Stephen upon Her head 
entered the great hall of the Hungarian diet, and slowly ascended he 
throne After a moment of deep silence, she addressed the assembled 
nobles telling them of the dangers that threatened the Empire; of the Prus- 
*niles?a, and all the other powers preparing to make war against her. 
"The very existence of the kingdom of Hungary, of our own person of our 
children and our crown are now at stake," she said, » and our sole hope is 
in the fidelity and long tried valor of the Hungarians." 

Her stirring words" her distressed and helpless condition, her beauty 
and dignity roused the nobles to a frenzy of enthusiam. They drew their 
sabres half way out of the scabbard and then flung them back with a force 
that made the great hall ring : » We will have no king but ManaTheresa, 

^^SeiroveTcome by their hearty response, burst into tears, and they 

"^Ttv^V—s, and their valiant swords compelled 



264 Persons and Places in Europe. 

the enemies of the Empress to leave her to her possessions, all but Silesia, 
which Frederick would not give up. Maria Theresa never forgot the devo- 
tion of the Hungarian nobles ; throughout all her reign she looked out for 
their interests, respected their rights, and spoke of them gratefully almost 
with her last breath. 

The Heko of the Tteol.— When Francis I., grandson of Maria Theresa, 
became emperor, another storm was about to burst over the throne of Aus- 
tria. The Hungarians were ready to rise the moment he attempted to 
ignore their rights, as his uncle had done. France, just on the border of 
a revolution, obliged Louis XVI. to declare war against Austria, and fol- 
lowed this up by beheading both Louis and his Austrian wife, Marie Antoi- 
nette, the daughter of Maria Theresa. 

In the wars that followed Napoleon appeared, first as commander of the 
French army, and then as consul. In a few years he compelled Francis to 
give up Belgium, Milan, a portion of Germany, and lastly, by the battle of 
Austerlitz, Venice, and the Tyrol, which he had before taken from Austria, 
but which had returned of its own accord and resisted all interference. 

The Tyrolese had always been firmly attached to the house of Hapsburg, 
and they were very indignant when Napoleon handed them over to the 
Bavarians, whom they heartily disliked. At the first opportunity, therefore, 
they rose in rebellion against their new rulers, determined to return to Austria! 
A few of the leading Tyrolese formed a plan of action, and one day as the 
peasants were gathered for a shooting match, at the house of Andreas Hofer, 
a voice was heard from the pinnacle of a mountain, saying, "It is time."' 
The company looked at Andreas for an explanation, and he told them 
quickly what it meant. 

" It is the signal, ' ' he said . ' ' Martin, run down to the river and see if there 
be aught upon its surface ; Hanora, fly with the signal to the next hamlet," 
Then to the men, he said, " AVho will aid Andreas Hofer to liberate our 
wretched country?" 

^ A shout from all present was the reply, and all who had not a weapon 
with him hurried to find a club, spade, axe, or knife. Meanwhile " Martin" 
had returned to say that the river was covered with sawdust. "It is time 
then;" said Andreas, and away they sped, men and women, to the meeting- 
place. 

Andreas Hofer was made leader of the band of patriots, and quickly 
marched his forces to the mountains over a narrow pass in the route of the 
approaching enemy. Huge trees were felled and rolled to the edge of the 




QUEEN THERESA AND THE YOUNG KING. 



266 Persons and Places in Europe. 

cliff, fastened with ropes and laden with masses of rock. The edge of the 
precipices were loosened so that a slight force would send some great 
rocks flying down into the gully. As soon as this was done, Hofer ordered 
his best riflemen to place themselves out of sight at both ends of the pass, 
and all the rest to hide until they heard the rifles. Soon a sentinel on a 
distant height sent up a thin wreath of smoke, a sign that the enemy was i 
approaching. Word was whispered around, and everyone waited impatiently, 
ready to spring to his post. 

On came the French, column after column, winding like a glittering snake 
between the dark precipices. They were expecting an attack at this place 
and were on the lookout. Not a sound was heard in the ranks, but the quick 
commands of the officers disposing the men according to the nature of the 
ground. But as they gained the pass, hearing no sounds and seeing no signs 
of an enemy, they began to think all was well, and to talk and laugh a 

little. 

The riflemen still waited, according to their instructions, until the soldiers 
reached a particular place; then the quick report of their guns was heard. 
" Is all ready ?" cried Hofer to the commander on the opposite steep. " All 
is ready," was the quick response. " Then in the name of God let go !" 

A few quick strokes of the axe, and all that pile of rocks and logs went 
crashing down upon the troops beneath. Shrieks, groans, and wild shouts 
of terror rose and mingled with the thunder of the falling rocks and the 
sharp cracking of the deadly rifles. The Tyrolese women stood by their 
husbands and brothers, rapidly re-loading and keeping the workmen sup- 
plied. The enemy tried to return the fire, but with no effect, and they soon 
beat a retreat, leaving two thousand of their number, with cannon and bag- 
gage in the pass. 

A few days afterward the patriots, under Hofer, again met the enemy 
upon the open field, and there too obtained a victory, so that Tyrol was at 
once abandoned by her foes. But when Austria was defeated at Aus- 
terlitz, Napoleon again said that the Tyrol must be joined with his allies, 
the Bavarians. The French forces were poured into the province from 
every point ; the brave Tyrolese were defeated, driven from hill to hill and 
from rock to rock. A price was set upon Hofer' s head, and he was hunted 
from one hiding place to another. Winter too came on, and cold! and hun- 
ger greatly reduced the number of his followers. At last he was betrayed 
into the hands of the French by one of his countrymen, and taken to Man- 
tua. The officers there would have been glad to save his life, for they re- 



Austria-Hungary. 



267 



spected his bravery, and the humanity he had always shown to those of 
their number who fell into his power; but Napoleon, as soon as he heard of 
the capture, sent orders that the prisoner must be shot within twenty-four 
hours And so the next morning, just before sunrise, the Tyrolese patriot 
was led out into the square of Mantua, and bravely stood up before twelve 
riflemen to meet his death. . 

The Austkian Statesman .-From the humiliating position m which 







METTERNICH. 

Austria was left by the battle of Austerlitz, she was raised again to power 
by the skill of a wily statesman. When peace had been proclaimed, 
this man, the wealthy Prince Metternich, was sent to Napoleon's court at 
Paris to represent the Austrian Empire. Here by flattery, studied courtesy 
and very agreeable behavior, the ambassador won his way into Napoleon s 
favor and so had agood chance to study out all the weak spots mthe blufl, 



268 Persons and Places in Europe. 

frank, and unsuspecting French, emperor. Then he went home and ar- 
ranged a grand Hapsburgian conquest. Napoleon was to put away his wife, 
the faithful Josephine, and marry Maria Louise, the daughter of the Austrian 
emperor, whom he had just defeated. Then Metternich, rightly supposing 
that Napoleon would not now suspect Austria of plotting against him, 
began to do just that very thing. But very deep and subtle were the 
plans he laid. 

AVhen Napoleon took offense at something Alexander of Russia did, 
Metternich encouraged him in his resentment, and led him to declare war, 
for he was anxious to see both these great powers weakening each other 
while he kept making Austria stronger. Thus, cooly and quietly, he urged 
the hot-headed Napoleon on in all the rash movements that led to his down- 
fall, preparing to take advantage of him as soon as he had become ex- 
hausted. 

While Napoleon was hurrying home after his defeat in Russia to raise a 
fresh army, Metternich was quietly drilling one over in Bohemia to use 
against him when the time should arrive. Meanwhile he was secretly 
urging on the other powers who were getting ready for Waterloo, and 
promising assistance, on careful conditions, all the while maintaining a 
friendly appearance toward Napoleon. But at last the soldier suspected 
the statesman of double dealing and went to have a talk with him just as 
dangers were beginning to thicken around him — to the great satisfaction of 
Metternich. 

As soon as they met, Napoleon went right to the point at once. " Well 
Metternich " he said, " your Cabinet wants to make capital out of my mis- 
fortune. The great question for you to decide is whether, without fighting, 
you can exact profitable conditions from me, or if you are to throw in your 
lot with my enemies . Well, we will see. Let us treat. What do you want V ' 

This at least was straightforward and honest. Not so the Austrian's 
answer, which was a perfect fog of indefinite phrases. " Nothing but those 
moderate terms which justice inspired. He would take up the position 
dictated by equity." " Speak more plainly and to the point," said the Em- 
peror. " All I want is for you to be neutral. I am an old soldier, and know 
better how to break than to bend. Will you take Illyria?" 

In another fog of words, Metternich said something about restoring the 
old condition of Europe, and guaranteeing peace by an association of in- 
dependent states. Napoleon burst out in a torrent of fury. "In fact 
you want Italy ; Russia wants Poland ; Sweden wants Norway ; Prussia, 



Austria- Hung ary . 269 

Saxony; England, Holland and Belgium; and Austria wants me to agree 
to these conditions without unsheathing a sword. The demand is an out- 
rage. You urge moderation, and want to dismember the French Empire. 
How much gold, Metternich, has England given you for this ? " 

The enraged Emperor paced the room, muttered angry sentences between 
his teeth, and waited half an hour for his wily companion to reply. But he 
waited in vain. Metternich knew that he had the game in his own hands, 
and he could afford to keep cool while his victim raged. 

The silence at last became embarrassing. Napoleon dropped his hat, 
which by all the courtesy that Metternich had once been so quick to show, 
he should have picked up at once. For an emperor to stoop to pick up his 
hat before an envoy was something unheard of in etiquette before. But 
Metternich never moved, he was master now ; he was not the affable, bowing 
courtier he used to be, when he regulated the new Emperor's drawing-room 
at Paris, and who, when Napoleon told him he was young to represent so old 
a house as Austria, replied with most becoming and delicate flattery, " Your 
majesty was still younger at the battle of Austerlitz." Surely a wondrous 
change had taken place ! 

The interview closed abruptly. Napoleon said, " Illyria is not my last 
word. We can make better terms. Consult your court and let me know." 
But no better understanding was arrived at, and Austria sided with Napo- 
leon's enemies. 

But when the smoke of Waterloo had cleared away, and the conquerors 
met at Vienna to divide, the spoils, then Metternich was in his element. 
With the map of Europe spread out before him, surrounded by diplomats, 
he began to show how the countries should be put together ; and to give 
his weighty reasons. 

First he pointed out the territories that should be allowed to Austria 
" for deserting Napoleon and joining the allies." His next care was to pre- 
vent each of the other powers from getting too large a share. Russia might 
have Finland and the remainder of Poland, but Prussia must not have Sax- 
ony, that " would not be just," was the reason he urged. His true reason 
was it would make her too powerful. Alsace, Lorraine and Baden wanted 
to unite and form a state by themselves ; but there were too many liberal 
thinkers in the three provinces, and united they would be a hot-bed of liberty 
that would be very likely to spread some of its ideas into Austria, and disturb 
the House of the Hapsburgs. These were therefore annexed to France, who 
would take care that liberal ideas did not grow too fast. The other small states 



270 Persons and Places in Bur ope. 

were put together and called the new Germanic Confederation. This he trusted 
to be able to manage by the arts of statesmanship, of which he was master. 

The Patriots of Hungary. — When the great Austrian statesman had 
arranged the map of Europe to suit his mind, he turned his attention to 
Hungary, where the nobles still clung to their constitution. But Metternich 
did not believe in constitutions. He thought rulers should govern as they 
chose. So he began in his subtle underhanded way to make the constitu- 
tion of Hungary of no account. 

But the Hungarians were on their guard. They not only resisted all his 
attempts to deprive them of their rights, but encouraged by the news of the 
French revolution, they went with the people of Vienna in a great crowd to 
the palace, and demanded that Metternich should be turned out of his office, 
and that they should be guaranteed a right to have a hand in their govern- 
ment. A mob surrounded the house of the great statesman, and he barely 
escaped with his life to England. 

This was the end of his wily policies. But he had taught those he left 
behind at the court of Vienna his arts of statecraft. 

Alarmed at the outbreak, the Emperor granted the petition of the Hun- 
garians, but he took secret measures the same day to make it of no avail. 
Dissensions were stirred up between the Hungarians and the Servians, which 
resulted in a war, and this gave Austria a chance to bring in her army on the 
plea of restoring peace. 

Among the patriots who roused the people to resist their oppressors was 
Kossuth, who became the central figure in the troubles that followed. He 
won a number of brilliant victories, and might have established the independ- 
ence of Hungary, if one of his generals had not needlessly surrendered his 
army to the invaders. Kossuth and a number of the leaders were obliged to 
fly for refuge to Turkey, and Hungary was made an Austrian province. 

The Exiled Orator. — The fate of Kossuth, the Hungarian patriot, 
awakened general interest in both him and Hungary. President Fillmore 
sent a vessel to Turkey to bring him to America, and all along the way, 
wherever he stopped, the people showed him great honors. 

There were those in England who said he was undeserving of so much 
attention ; that he was a dissatisfied man, who wanted to raise himself to 
notoriety, and so had excited his people to rebellion, which, instead of bring- 
ing him the power he wished, had driven him into exile, and brought fearful 
slaughter upon his countrymen. 

His own answer to this charge, not only shows what were his true 



Austria-Hungary. 271 

motives but it gives a specimen of the wonderful eloquence for which he 
"ecame widely foted in England and America. The Engl sh language he 
tod taught himself while in prison, with a volume of Shakespeare and an 

En "How blindtre those men who pretend to believe that it is only certain 
men who push to revolution the continent of Europe, which but for their 
Wvolltio nary acts would be quiet and contented ! Contented With what ? 
With oppression and servitude? France, contented with its constitution 
made ridiculous? Germany, contented with being turned into a fold of 
Xeu Pent up to be shorn by some thirty tyrants ? Switzerland, contented 
^threatening ambition of encroaching despots ? Italy, contented with 
The King of Na^s, or the priestly government of Rome. Austria, Bohemia 
Croatia Dalmatia, contented with having been drivento butchery and after 
having been deceived, with having been plundered, oppressed, and laughed 
at as fools? Poland, contented with being murdered ? Hungary my .poor 
Hungary, contented with being more than murdered^-buned alive ?-f or it 
I alfve. 7 Half of Europe contented with having been bombarded/ burned 
plundered, sacked and butchered ?-contented with the scaffold, with the 
hangman, with the prison, and no political rights at all ; but having to pay 
fnnumerable millions for the highly beneficial purpose of being kept ma 
state of serfdom ! That is the condition of the continent of Europe ; and is 
it not ridiculous to prate about individuals disturbing the peace of Eu- 

" OP Then as to bringing trouble upon his country by stirring up a rebellion, 

116 ^Reluctant to present the neck of the realm to the deadly stroke which 
aimed at its very life, and anxious to bear up against the horror of fate and 
XifunVto fight the battle of lawful defence, scarcely had I spoken he 
word sLrcelv had I added that the defence would require two hundred 
rtousandmln and eighty millions of florins, when the spirit of freedom 
moved through She hill, and nearly four hundred representatives rose as one 
man Id lStfno- their right arms toward God, said solemnly, 'We grant it- 
Womor delth ' Thus they spoke, and thus they stood m calm and 
sfentmalestv awaiting what further word might fall from my lips. And 
ormysel ? Hwalmy cfuty to speak, but the grandeur of the —^ 

not accept the praise. No ; it is not I who inspired the Hungarian people , 
it was the Hungarian people who inspired me. 



272 Persons and Places in Europe. 

"With us, who beheld the nameless victims of the love of country lying on 
the death field beneath Buda walls, and heard the dying answer of those 
we would console, with the words, ' Never mind, Buda is ours,' — he who 
witnessed such scenes, not as exceptions, but as a constant rule ; he who- 
saw boys weep when told they were too young to die for their land ; 
he who knows what sort of a sentiment is burning in the breast of old 
and young, of the strong man and tender wife ; he who is aware of all this, 
will surely bow before this people with respect, and will acknowledge with 
me that such a people wants not to be inspired, but that it is an everlasting 
source of inspiration itself." 

The Coronation at Pesth. — Before the trouble with Hungary was over, 
Austria was drawn into a war with Prussia, which after a short, sharp, seven 
weeks' struggle ended in her defeat at the battle of Sadowa. She lost not 
only Holstein, the cause of the outbreak, but the place she had long been 
contesting with Prussia as the head of the German nation. Her emperors 
had for many years born the title of Emperor of Germany, which at last 
grew to be only a title, and then was resigned by Francis after his defeat by 
Napoleon. But Austria was not willing to see the rapidly growing Prussia 
take the place she had so long occupied, and a war of words and state intri- 
gues had long been waged between the two great rivals. Now they had come 
to blows and Prussia had won. 

In this humiliated condition the Emperor Francis felt obliged to make 
peace with the Hungarians. He appointed a new minister, who though clear 
headed, was not a deceiver. This man, Beust, went right to the bottom of the 
difficulty. He arranged that the Hungarians should be separated entirely 
from the Austrians, have their own diet and capital, but have the Austrian 
emperor for their king. This both parties agreed to, and so it was amid 
national rejoicing that the Emperor and Empress of Austria came to Pesth 
to be crowned King and Queen of Hungary. For in spite of the despotic 
rule of the House of Hapsburg, and the cruel persecutions and numerous 
executions that had followed the banishment of Kossuth, the Hungarians 
never forgot Maria Theresa, and were inclined to be loyal to her descend- 
ants . 

They met the Emperor and Empress with enthusiastic demonstrations. 
Thousands of people gathered at Pesth to be present at the coronation cere- 
monies. The nobles called on the Emperor, and the grand ladies of Hungary, 
came in their carriages, to pay their respects to the Empress. In the even- 
ing Francis Joseph gave a great banquet, where all the leading men and 
foreign ambassadors and diplomats were present. 



Austria- Hungary \ 



273 



On the next day the royal party gathered at the parish church of Buda, 
where the crown of St. Stephen and the old' mantle of Gesella were put upon 
the new king, and wearing these he rode to Pesth to take the oath. 

Ever since the wars with the Turks, the Kings of Hungary, when they 
took the oath have ridden up the Coronation Mound, and turning to the 
four points of the compass have sworn with uplifted sword to maintain tne 
rights and dominion of Hungary, and "to rescue the spoils of Christian- 




SCHONBRUNN, NEAR VIENNA. 

ity from the hands of the infidels." Some of the Austrian Emperors had 
disdained to do this ; some had made no promises ; and some who did, had 
not tried to keep them . But Francis Joseph went through all the ceremonies, 
and made all the promises, and has endeavored to keep them; so the trouble- 
some wound has been healed. 

Music m Vienna.— The court of Vienna has always given a warm recep- 
tion to musicians. The capital city abounds in pleasure gardens, fine parks, 
walks and drives, where the people gather to hear good music and enjoy 



274 Persons and Places in Europe. 

their holidays. And just outside the city is the beautiful summer residence 
of the Emperor — the famous gardens of Shonbrunn. Here amid the tropical 
plants and tall forest trees, and thickly scattered flower beds, the people 
are fond of gathering, and here many musical treats have been given. Here 
the boy Mozart, in his seventh year, was called to play with his sister before 
Maria Theresa's royal family, and here her four daughters and their brother 
Joseph, afterward emperor, performed G-luck's exquisite composition. 
Gluck was a great favorite in this family. He composed a sonata for Maria 
Theresa's birthday, another for the marriage festivities of one of her daugh- 
ters, and was for some time chapel-master of the imperial opera. 

Beethoven came to Vienna to study with Mozart, and his af terworks won the 
enthusiastic admiration of the musical people of all classes. Here Schubert 
sang in the imperial choir, and here he composed the songs which were not 
appreciated until the author's life had been embittered with neglect and 
dissappointment. His monument now stands in one of the principal parks. 

Here Liszt, the great Hungarian composer, came to be educated, and here 
he has given some of his best concerts for various benevolent objects. 

Bohemian Artists. — In northern Austria is a class of people who have 
a wonderful natural gift for both music and painting. The ordinary 
laborers will sit down after their day' s work is over and play and sing the 
most difficult music, and many are composers of no mean ability. In paint- 
ing and decorations on glass and fine earthenware they have no equals. 
Bohemian wares are widely celebrated and in great demand. 

All around the villages, where the large glass factories are located, are the 
houses of those who cut and paint the cups and saucers and vases as they 
come from the shops. Their houses are usually dainty cottages hidden 
among flowers, shrubs and fruit trees; as one would expect in people of such 
artistic tastes. Here men, women and children may be found, simple, plain 
people, painting the most beautiful patterns, with an ease that any artist 
might be proud of. 

They are real artists bred and trained in the work. With no patterns 
but that in their ' ' mind' s eye, ' ' and one or two rude brushes they bring out the 
most delicate scrolls, wreaths and flowers upon the plain glass. In one house 
will be found exquisite paintings in gold, silver and colors; in another, 
beautiful leaf-work, lily, bell-flower designs, cut out of the glass with wheels. 
One young painter has a taste for painting insects and butterflies, which 
he designs from a cabinet of insect specimens that he has collected. Another 
turns out in five minutes on his wheel, a spirited deer making a spring over 



Austria- Hungary : 



275 



some broken pailings. Another keeps on hand engravings from the works 
of great painters, which he re-arranges or selects from, and represents on 
his vases. 




PRAGUE. 



These simple, modest artists are qnite surprised at the astonishment 
and admiration strangers express over their work. They can scarcely believe 
that the vases and jars which they turn off so easily, and use sometimes as 
flower-pots in their windows, are so highly prized in other lands. 



CHAPTER XII. 

SWITZERLAND. 

The most beautiful mountain scenery in the world is found in Switzerland, 
among the Pennine Alps on the southern boundary, and the Burnese Ober- 
lands just to the north. Here tower the loftiest mountains of Europe, and 
plunge the mightiest avalanches ; here lie the grandest glaciers, rush the 
maddest torrents, and sparkle the most beautiful waterfalls. And here, every 
summer, comes the tourist to revel in the grandeur and beauty.—- his talk 
all exclamations, feelings all ecstasy." 

Alpine Climbing.— One of his chief delights is to scale the hio-hest 
mountains, but kk he that would a climbing go "among the peaks of the Alps 
must be prepared for many hardships. He must endure cold and fatigue ; 
he must keep cool in the presence of sudden danger ; he must walk close to 
the edge of precipices ; cross deceptive glaciers where lurk hidden crevices, 
and climb vertical steeps by footholds chopped in ice. All of this he must do 
with the cold sometimes so intense that lie can scarcely keep from freezing, 
and at others, with the tierce rays of the sun scorching his skin and blind- 
ing his eyes, with the avalanche ready to start even at his whisper, and un- 
expected dangers on every hand. But in spite of all this there are many 
who find rare pleasure in such adventures. Some are rewarded by the 
satisfaction of doing what others have done ; some by finding out the secrets 
which Nature has stored away in those remote regions, and some in the 
grand views to be had from the great heights. 

An Alpine View.— One of the finest prospects in Switzerland may be 
viewed from the crest of the Matterhorn or Mount Cerwin. AH the high 
peaks of the Alps can be seen from here. Away to the north, the great 
Finster Aarhorn, monarch of the Burnese Oberlands, with the snowy Jung- 
f ran,— the ''Maiden Mountain, "—close beside him ; farther away to the 
northwest, the Jura range; slightly south of west hoary Mount Blanc, "the 
monarch of mountains," followed in the distance by the Graian and the 



278 Persons and Places in Europe. 

Maritime Alps. Near by on the east towers the Queen of the Pennines, 
Monte Rosa, surrounded by her train of lofty peaks, while below, on every 
hand rise the massive ridges like huge stationary billows. Each sweep of 
the eye brings out new beauty and grandeur. There are "forests black and 
gloomy, and meadows light and lively, bounding water-falls and tranquil 
lakes ; fertile lands and savage wastes ; sunny plains and frigid plateaus. 
There are the most rugged forms, and the most graceful outlines, — bold 
perpendicular cliffs and gentle undulating slopes ; rocky mountains and 
snowy mountains, somber and solemn, or glittering and white, with walls, 
turrets, pinnacles, pyramids, domes, cones and spires. There is every com- 
bination that the world can give, and every contrast that the mind can 
desire." 

The Ascent of the Matterhorn. — The Matterhorn was one of the 
last peaks to yield his "untrodden snows" to man's ambitious footsteps. 
One after another the other peaks had been scaled, but he was believed to 
be unconquerable. His precipitous sides showed no place for even a foot- 
hold. Besides, the natives believed that goblins lived in those dim, lofty 
regions round his top, and that they would deal vengeance to any who 
came near their stronghold. No guides therefore could be hired to explore 
them. 

But there was one man who made up his mind that he would reach the 
top of the Matterhorn. This was Mr. Edward AYhymper, an Englishman. 
Finding a guide who would consent to go with him, he made an attempt, but 
the guide soon became discouraged and refused to go on. Six different times 
he tried and failed, usually through the fears of the guides. A seventh 
trial was made in the summer of 1865. This time he had four guides, and 
was accompanied by three other travelers. On the second day they reached 
the top. The Matterhorn was conquered, and the triumphant party planted 
their flag on his snowy crest. But he had a terrible vengeance in store for 
them. 

When they were ready to descend they tied themselves together with 
ropes, leaving a few feet between each, so that while one man moved, the 
others, by standing firmly braced with their alpenstocks, could keep him 
from falling if he slipped. When they had gone a short distance, Croz, the 
foremost guide, stepped back to show the traveler just behind him how to 
fix his feet. He had just turned to go on when the man slipped and struck 
Croz in the back, knocking him down. He uttered a quick cry as he fell, 
which was the only warning the others had, and before the third man could 



Switzerland. 



279 



brace himself, lie was jerked down, and then the fourth. Peter Taugwalder, 
a powerful guide, came next, and behind him, Mr. Whymper. These two 
were prepared for the strain, which came upon both at the same instant, 
and they held their ground. But in a second, the rope snapped, and the 
four fallen men went plunging down the side of the mountain. . 

For more than an hour 
the . others stood terror 
stricken upon the spot, un- 
able to move. The two 
guides wept like children, 
and when they did start, 
trembled so that the danger 

of falling was doubled. But 

they reached the foot of the 

mountain at last, and carried 

the sad news to the village. 

A party started out at once 

to search for the lost men. 

The bodies of three were 

found crushed and mangled 

on the rocks at the bottom 

of the steep; the fourth, 

was never found. 

But this terrible accident, 

which seemed to confirm the 

belief of the simple people 

about the goblins, did not 

keep others from making the 

same journey. Only three 

days later another party 

reached the summit, and 

since then many ascents 

have been made. 

The Plunging Avalanche. -One of the grandest sights to be seen on 
the Alps is an avalanche, and the place to see the most stupendous ones is 
near a deep ravine, on one side of the Jungfrau. Down a steep of eleven 

.thousand feet rush the huge masses of snow and ice, large enough to 
cover a whole village or sweep away a forest. On a sunny day at noon, the 




MATTERHORN. 



>80 



Persons and Places in Europe. 



avalanches are falling here about every ten minutes. First there is a loud re- 
port as the mass breaks loose, followed by a prolonged roar ; then a swiftly 
sliding snow-field with clouds of loose snow arising all along its course. 
Once or twice on its way down it strikes against the sides of the mountain 
with a terrific report, which swells the continuous roar. In a few seconds, 
the whole mass pours over a projecting rock into the ravine with a, booming 
crash. 

The most terrible avalanche in the whole history of Switzerland occurred 
on the Rossburg mountain, near the village of Brunnen, many years ago. 
The summer had been a very rainy one, and on the first of September, 1806 
a crevice was seen on the side of the mountain. The next day, the foot of 
the mountain began to move. Springs of water ceased flowing ; trees began 
to reel and fall, and the birds flew away screaming with fright. About five 
o'clock the people saw the whole side of the mountain sliding downward 
and they began to run for their lives. Some escaped, but over four hundred 
and fifty were killed. Houses and villages were swept away, or buried bv 
the mass as it rolled out over the valley. When it ceased moving the 
whole valley of Arth, which a few hours before was full of happy homes 
was a desolate waste. 

The Massive Glaciers.— The graves of the fallen avalanches are the 
birth-places of the glaciers. Like long white veils, these solid masses of 
snow and ice stream down the sides of the mountains and fill up the valleys 
The enormous weight of the everfalling snows keeps crowding the whole 
solid valleyful slowly onward. Little by little, a few feet every year it 
moves down toward the plain below with a slow, irresistible motion 

Nothing can stop it. If a rock lies in its path, it divides, passes around 
it, and, joining again on the other side, moves on, leaving no trace of the 
split. Huge bowlders are carried along as easily as chips on the surface of 
a stream. In and out it winds, following the course of the valley, its hard 
surface serving as a path to the traveler, the hunter and the chamois. 

One of the strangest things about a glacier is its ebb and flow After 
remaining stationary for a long time, it begins to lengthen out creeping so 
slowly toward the farmer's fertile fields that he does not notice its advance 
until the wheat crop begins to fail and the trees begin to shrink and withe/ 
When, after many years, it again recedes, nothing but bare brown earth 
and rock is left. Its traces may be seen long afterward when the valley has 
regained its verdure, by the huge bowlders strewn along its path and bv the 
smooth edges of the rocks that it ground against and plolished as it passed 



Switzerland. 



281 



Tlie glaciers, though so huge and 
powerful in their slow course, are usu- 
ally very quiet and do little damage 
to the people; but one in the St. Ber- 
nard valley a number of years ago 
outdid even the avalanches m the 
work of destruction. 

For a long time this glacier kept 
projecting great icebergs over a cliff, 
until they were piled up to a vast 
height, and completely choked up the 
narrow outlet for the water that 
melted from them. The people knew 
that when summer came there would 
be a fearful flood, and some left their 
homes to escape the danger. One hot 
day, the icy dam gave way, and the 
lake which had formed above it burst 
out over the valley carrying death 
and destruction all along its way to 
Lake Geneva. Many lives were lost 
and much property destroyed. 

Gateways of the Alps.— When 
Hannibal led his army over the Alps, 
more than sixteen hundred years ago, 
the people thought it a greater feat 
than any he had accomplished in bat- 
tle. They considered the Alps impas- 
sable : they did not know of the 
grand gateways that Nature had cut 
for them in the mountain walls . There 
are several of these passes, and on 
some of them there are now good 
carriage roads. The most noted of 
these is the pass of St. Bernard, where 
stands the famous life saving station 
of the Alps, with its devoted monks 
and noble dogs. This hospice was 




A MOUNTAIN ASCENT. 



282 Persons and Places in Europe. 

built nearly a thousand years ago by the good old St. Bernard of 
Menthon, for the relief of travelers. No one is ever refused admittance 
here, even thongh the guests number six or seven hundred, as they do 
sometimes in summer ; and many a traveler has been saved from a death 
in the snow by the heroic inmates. Every morning, after a violent storm, 
the dogs are sent out, each with warm clothing, a bottle of wine, and some 
food fastened to his body. The monks follow, and when they hear the 
deep bay of a dog, they know that some lost one has been found, and that 
their help is needed. 

An instance of the wonderful intelligence of these dogs, is the story of 
the famous Barry. He found a child asleep in the snow one day, awoke it, 
persuaded it to get upon his back, and carried it safely to the hospice. 
His picture, with the child clinging to his neck, approaching the convent 
gate is a familiar one, and his stuffed remains are still preserved at the 
museum of Berne. 

There is one room in the hospice that tourists always look at with a 
great deal of interest. It is the one in which Napoleon slept while making his 
terrible passage with his thirty thousand soldiers. Another into which 
they look with as much horror as interest, is the ghastly dead house, where 
the bodies of those who have died upon the pass are kept, and their crumb- 
ling remains shown to all who wish to look upon them. 

Since the Mount Cenis tunnel and railway were completed, there are not 
so many travelers over the St. Bernard pass as formerly ; but there will 
always be some who prefer to climb the path, view the grand scenery, and 
visit the old hospice, even though the journey be perilous. 

Travelers agree that no one can say he has seen Switzerland or a moun- 
tain gorge until he has crossed the Spluegen. Nothing in nature could be 
more grand or sublime. " A continuous, tortuous, black, jagged, chasm 
split through the stupendous mountain ridge from summit to base, in per- 
pendicular, angular and convoluted, zigzag rifts, so narrow in some places 
that you could almost leap across, yet so deep that the thunder of the 
Rhone dies upon the ear struggling, in reverbrating echoes upward ! " In 
some places, the precipices rise sixteen hundred feet in torn and jagged 
masses ; in others frightful fissures yawn beside the path, through which 
thunders the river, sometime lost from view, its muffled booming sound 
just audible from the depths below, then again plunging into sight foaming 
and whirling like a maelstrom. 

The dreariest place in all Switzerland, travelers say, is the Hospice of 



Switzerland. 



283 



le Grimsel, near the summit of the Grimsel pass, in the Bernese Ober- 

Ftt is bnilt in a rocky basin by the side of a small mountain tarn, which 

is always black as night-kept from freezing by a warm spring underneath. 

I story as wierd J the place is attached to it, about an old keeperjvho 

used to stay there from November 

to March, with no company but his 

dogs. One night as he was keeping 

his lonely vigils, he was startled by a 

mysterious sound, like the moans of a 

person in distress. Calling his dogs 

he went out and searched, but no one 

could be found. The dogs, however, 

acted strangely, and when the moan- 
ing came again, crouched and trem- 
bled, refusing to go out. A third time 

the sound came, and a voice seemed 

to say, "Go in to the inner room." 

He went in, and knelt down to pray. 
In a few minutes an avalanche fell, 
filling every room in the house ex- 
cept the one where he was. With his 
dogs he worked his way out next 
day, and reached the village in safety. 
The River Rhone.— The ancients 
used to say that the Rhone river came 
out of eternal night, but the great 
Rhone glacier, in the Burnese Ober- 
lands, is now known to be its birth- 
place . Bursting out of this icy prison 
house with a mighty roar, as if exult- m 

ing over its escape, it hastens on to water the fertile fields of Valais, and 

feed the vineyards of France. ■,'.'.-,,., +■ 

The valley of the Rhone is the largest in Switzerland, and is lull ol beauti- 
ful scenery. The most charming object in it is the Pizevache cascade, a white 
line of foam boiling through a bed of black rocks, over a series of rapids to 
the brink of a precipice three hundred feet high. Here it leaps down into a 
dark cauldron, where nothing can be seen but the white seething foam. 




HOSPICE OF THE GRIMSEL. 



284 



Persons and Places in Europe. 



Over this, in the morning when the sun-shines, spans a beautiful rain* 
bow. 

A Valley of Fountains.— But the most beautiful valley in all Switzeiw. 
land is the Lauter Brunnen,— " nothing but fountains." Its sides are lined 
with multitudes of tiny streams, that hang like long tassels of silver dowm 




ALPINE DOS. 



the face of the crags, or fling themselves in showers of rainbow spray from 
the edges of the high precipices. Chief among these fountains is the 
btabback or Dust Stream, that comes curving down over a precipice nine 
hundred feet high, swaying and spreading- in the wind, until it falls in clouds 
ot silvery dust upon the rocks below. The valley is a deep narrow chasm 
reaching into the sides of the St. Gothard giants. Rustic cottages are sprink- 
led here and there upon its over-hanging cliffs, and the little village of Lauter 



Switzerland. 



285 



jrunnen, with its fifteen thousand inhabitants, nestles at its heart, so over- 
shadowed by the surrounding cliffs, that in winter the sun does not reach it 
r iitil noon, and then speedily disappears. 

Lake Leman and Lake Lucerne. — " Clear placid Leman," the largest 
f the Swiss lakes, has received many flattering tributes from pen and pen- 
il. Her pure waters keep ever unsullied by the numerous muddy streams 
hat bathe themselves there before entering the channel of the Rhine. 




JUNGFEAU. 



When the weather is clear, the stars and mountains could ask for no better 
mirror than Lake Leman affords. Even Monte Blanc, fifty miles away, can 
see his broad glittering diadem of snow and ice reflected from her glassy 
surface. 

Lake Lucerne, though considerably smaller than Leman, ranks not far 
behind it in beauty of scenery, while it is of special interest from its associ- 
ation with the memory of William Tell. The mountains at its eastern ex- 
tremity are bold and grand, seeming to rise right out of the lake. On one 
of them is a scar, where a huge fragment of rock broke off and fell into the 



288 



Persons and Places in Europe. 



,s~\ 




lake, raising such a wave that a whole hamlet was flooded, and a number of ' 
lives destroyed. 

On a little shelf of rock at the eastern end of the lake stands TelPs 
Chapel, built in the year 1830 by the men of Uri to the memory of their 
hero. 

Alpine Plants and Flowers.— The ground at the base of the Alps is 

covered with a variety of 

plants, shrubs and trees. 

But one by one, as the 

higher regions are reached, 

these disappear, and others 

of different kind take their 

place. No grain or fruit 

trees are seen above a height 

of sixty-five thousand feet ; 

instead, are dwarfish birch 

and elder and then stunted 

pine . Farther on, these give 

place to long, rich grass. 

These lofty meadows are 

brilliant with Alpine flowers, 

many of them members of 

well-known families. There 

are bright colored thistles, 

purple crocuses, scarlet 

vetches, pale sweet pinks 
with spear-like leaves, tiny 
grey saxifrage, covered with 
thick clumps of white flow- 
ers, brilliant little blue gen- 
tians and fragrant Alpine 
roses, on whose petals the 
crimson glows of sunset 

seem to have been imprisoned. Upon the rocky banks of streams, grow 
luxuriant rhododendrons and delicate ferns. Higher still are more hardy 
adventurers, the Scottish blue-bell, hanging its rich clusters out of rocky 
crevices, the ladies' mantle spreading its satiny leaves over the bare stones, 
and the dainty little eidelweiss thrusting its pale yellow face out of its 



ALPINE FLOWERS. 



Sioitzerland. 



287 



hood of white cottony leaves, at a height of eight thousand feet more. 
Often the guides upon the giddy heights of Mont Rosa, or the Jungfrau, 
call the tourist's attention to these hardy little mountaineers upon the 
edges of the cliffs to keep him from looking at the dizzy depths below. 

The Bearded Vulture.— Nearly one-half of all the birds of Europe 
live among the Alps. The king of them all is the lammergeyer, or bearded 
vulture, a huge bird nine feet across the wings, and a most voracious eater. 
The stomach of one was found to contain five fragments of a cow's rib, two 
inches wide and from six to nine inches long ; a mass of matted wool and 







ALPINE ANTELOPE. 

hair ; and the leg of a kid perfect from the knee down. These indigestible 
things are slowly dissolved by the strong gastric juice of its enormous stom- 
ach. Its victims are lambs, kids and young chamois, which, if not destroyed 
on the spot, are carried off to its eyrie ; and small quadrupeds and birds, 
which are "secured with one clutch, killed with one blow and swallowed 
at one gulp." Often it wiU watch a goat, sheep, or chamois as it ap- 
proaches the edge of a cliff, swoop down upon it and push it over the side 
with its strong wings, then fly down and gorge itself upon the mangled 



288 Persons and Places in Europe. 

remains. It has been known to attack a man when asleep and to carry oft 
young children. 

The Alpine Antelope.— The timid chamois is the most noted among 
the animals of the Alps, for^ its wonderful spryness. It can spring across 
chasms six or seven yards wide, with a sudden bound leap up against the 
face of a perpendicular rock, and merely touching it with its hoofs rebound 
again in an opposite direction to some higher crag. When reaching up- 
ward on its hind legs, the fore hoofs resting on some higher spot, it is able 
to stretch to a considerable distance, and with a quick spring to bring its 
hind quarters to a level with the rest of its body, and with all four hoofs 
close together, stand poised upon a rock not broader than one's hand. 

A chamois's sense of sight, hearing, and smell is so keen that it is diffi- 
cult to get near one. He knows man to be his worst enemy, and is greatly 
disturbed when he finds one near. But even the most wary of the old 
patriarchs cannot resist the attractions of the salt licks in summer time, and 
here it is sometimes possible to find a place of ambush on the windward 
side of the spot where a whole herd congregates. The gambols of such a 
herd, especially of the giddy young kids, is a most pleasing sight. They 
spring up like skip-jacks on their long hind legs, run round and round, 
up and down, and even sideways. 

The hunters do not like to frighten them by firing among them at the 
salt licks, as they would soon cease to visit the place, and would suffer for 
the need of salt. But sometimes the temptation to shoot is too great to be 
resisted. This was the case with one hunter, who spied among such a herd 
at a salt lick a notorious old fellow that had defied the best aim of all the 
hunters in the vicinity. He had very narrowly escaped once with the 
loss of a horn, and this served to make him more easily recognized. On 
this occasion the hunter was in a good position, and felt almost sure of the 
long-coveted prize. How he would be envied by the other hunters when he 
appeared among them wearing a bunch of that old fellow's long hair on his 
hat ! But it was not to be. As he pulled the trigger, the hammer clicked 
but the cap did not go off. The noise, slight as it was, had been heard by 
the wary old chamois. One loud whistle, and the whole herd, was off like 
the wind. 

Chamois Hunters.— Chamois hunting is one of the most dangerous and 
the least profitable of sports. The hunter must use the greatest caution 
endure hardships and fatigue, and risk his life scrambling among the treach- 
erous cliffs. But the very difficulties and perils give it extra fascination 



Switzerland. 



289 



lin 



One of the native hunters told a tourist that his father and grandfather had 
both met their death while out on a chamois hunt, and that he expected to 
do the same. He said, however, that money could not tempt him to give it 
up. A couple of years afterward, the tourist heard that his prediction had 
been fulfilled. _.. v ^ '. 

One day as a couple of 
hunters were out pursuing 
a chamois, they separated m 
order to prevent its escape. 
One of them in his excite- 
ment leaped across a chasm 
to a narrow ledge of rock on 
the face of a cliff. Here he 
found that he could go no 
further, neither could he re- 
trace his steps, as the place 
from which he had come was 
much higher. 

The ledge on which he 
stood was so narrow that he 

could neither sit nor lie 

down. He shouted to his 

companion, but no answer 

came. All the rest of the 

day and all the following 

night he stood there calling 

for help, his strength fast 

failing him. The next day, 

just as he was sure he could 

hold out no longer, he heard 

his friend calling to him. fisher girl. 

A rope was lowered over 

the cliff , and he was saved . The horror and fatigue of that one night blanched 

his hair white as snow. 
The u Wildheiter."— Scarcely less dangerous than chamois hunting is 

the business of the " wildheuer," the climbing hay-cutter of the Alps. On 

some of the steep lofty cliffs where the cattle cannot reach it, grows long 

luxuriant grass, which is much needed during the winter. Armed with his 




290 Persons and Places in Europe. 

scythe and his feet shod with crampons (thick iron-spiked shoe soles), he 
sets off in the early morning climbing the steep cliffs like a chamois. When 
he reaches the slopes where the grass grows, he cuts it, gathers it into a 
firm bundle, and, if the cliff is not very high, lowers it in a net or flings it 
over the side to wait for him below. But if the steep is high or there are 
projecting rocks or trees on its side, he must take the heavy burden, often 
more than a hundred pounds, on his back, or balance it on his head and 
carry it down. The descent is usually a perilous one, high walls of rock on 
one side and dizzy depths on the other. To turn a projecting crag he 
must cling to a knob or crevice, and feel with one cramponed foot for the 
slippery foothold that he cannot see, all the while balancing the heavy 
load on his head. If a stone slips or a limb fails there is nothing to save 
him from a fatal fall on the rocks below. 

The Ribbon Weavers and the Watchmakers. — The Swiss women 
as a rule are industrious and thrifty. In the vicinity of Basle the loom of 
the ribbon weaver is found in nearly every cottage. The housewife weaves 
a yard or two and then attends to her potatoes for dinner, weaves a little 
more, then fries her sausage and boils her saurkraut. While her husband 
is washing for dinner, she steps to her loom and adds a mite to her growing 
flowers and figures. The most beautiful patterns and delicate shades come 
from the hands of these hard working housewives . Even the Coloring is done 
to perfection in these humble homes. The girls and old women aid by 
twisting and reeling the silk. In the city the work is carried on, on a larger 
scale, by the factories where hundreds of looms, filled with all the different 
colors of the rainbow, hum with life and motion and gleam with brilliancy. 
The spinners and weavers are all women making on an average about three 
and a half dollars a week. This is continued when they are sick, and when 
they grow too old to work. Every year three million dollars worth of ribbon 
is shipped from Basle to America. 

In the cottages around Geneva, the work tables of the watchmakers take 

the place of ribbon-weaver's looms. There are also large factories in the city 

where girls and women are employed. The girls first learn to make every 

h part of the watch, and then select the part that they can do best, for their 

life work. 

One woman's only work will perhaps be to drill little holes in the 
small steel plates, another's, to make a slight change in the shape of the holes 
already drilled. 

The Guides. — Many of the men of Switzerland find employment in act- 



Switzerland. 



291 



ing as guides to tourists. The work is difficult and dangerous and their 
hardy courage is often put to the test. The sight of a man in peril rouses 
them to super-human efforts for his relief, and a disaster fills them with 

grief. 

Prof . Tyndal became much attached to a guide by the name of Brennen, 




MOUNTAIN GUIDE. 



and tells the following story about his efforts to rescue a man from a crev- 
asse in a glacier. 

As Prof. Tyndal, accompanied by two other gentlemen, and the guide 
Brennen, were proceeding along the Aletsch glacier they saw a man stand- 



292 Persons and Places in Europe. 

ing perfectly still some little distance ahead of them. They thought noth- 
ing of it at first, but as they approached, they saw that it was one of the 
porters they had sent on ahead of them with provisions. As they came up 
to him he neither moved nor spoke, and seemed dazed. When asked what 
the matter was, he replied that his companion was killed. They asked 
where he was and he nodded toward a crevasse just before them. But 
when asked how he knew the man was dead, he only muttered that he was 
killed. Brennen had meanwhile been growing very much excited, and rush- 
ing to the brink of the crevasse, would have jumped recklessly in if Prof. 
Tyndal had not held him back. They listened and heard a faint moan. 
This increased Brennen' s excitement, but Prof. Tyndal laid a hand on his 
shoulder and told him that unless he acted like a man they should not be 
able to save the sufferer. 

With shaking hands Brennen hastily tied some ropes together,but Prof. 
Tyndal would not let him descend until each knot had been tested. Nearly 
all gave way, and had to be tied over again. The other men lowered first 
Brennen and then Prof Tyndal into the crevasse where they found the man* 
so wedged in the ice that it took more than an hour to chop him loose, and 
then he was so weak that he could scarcely stir when they got him out. 
All the while Brennen worked like a frenzied man, and when they reached 
the top, insisted on carrying the sufferer to the village. But before he had 
gone many steps he sank under his load. 

The Patriots op Rutli. — There are many interesting stories connected 
with the struggles of the Swiss for freedom from the yoke of Austria. One 
is of the three men of Rutli, who met at a house in Uri, talked of the misery 
of their country and the cruelty of the Austrian bailiffs, and resolved to raise 
a band of men who would strike for liberty. Soon after this they met again 
in the meadow of Rutli, each bringing with him ten true and honorable men, 
determined to hold the ancient liberty of their fatherland before all, and life as 
nothing. The three men of Rutli raised their hands to heaven, and swore to 
G-od the Lord, faithfully to live and die for the rights of the innocent people 
Then the thirty raised their hands and took the oath like the three. They ap 
pointed New Year's night for the work, and then separated ; each returned 
to his valley and his cabin and tended his cattle. One of these thirty 
men, it is said, was William Tell. 

Some wise men have concluded that there never was such a person as 
William Tell, and that all the stories about him are myths ; but it will not 
do for them to tell the people of Switzerland so. One man tried it a few 



Switzerland. 



293 



years ago He read a paper before a historical association at Geneva m 
which he tried to prove that William Tell was only an imaginary being. 
The next year he happened in Alterof , and when the people found he was 
there they sent word to tell him that the sooner he left the place the better it 
would be for him. He left without delay. 




PEASANT IN HOLIDAY DRESS. 

William Tell.— The Story of William Tell is very beatifuUy told by the 
German writer Zschokke as follows: 

" The bailiff, Herman Gessler, was not easy because he had an evil con- 
science. It seemed to him that the people began to raise their heads and 
to show more boldness. So he set the ducal hat of Austria on a pole in Uri, 
and ordered that every one who passed it should do it reverence. And 



294 Persons and Places in Europe. 

William Tell, the archer of Burglen, one of the thirty men of Rutli, passed 
before it, but he did not bow. He was immediately carried to the bailiff, 
who angrily said : ' Insolent archer, I will punish thee by means of thine 
own craft. I will place an apple on the head of thy little son. Shoot it off, 
and fail not.' And they bound the child, and placed an apple on his head, 
and led the archer far away. He took aim. The bowspring twanged. The 
arrow pierced the apple. All the people shouted for joy. But Gessler said 
to the archer : ' Why didst thou take a second arrow.' Tell answered: 
' If the first had not pierced the apple, the second would have pierced thy 
heart.' 

" This terrified the bailiff, and he ordered the archer to be seized, and car- 
ried to a boat in which he was himself about to embark for Kussuacht. He 
did not think it prudent to imprison Tell in Uri on account of the people, so 
he hastily departed in spite of a strong headwind. 

" The sea rose and the waves dashed foaming over the boat, so that all 
were alarmed, and the boatman disheartened. In great anxiety, Gessler 
ordered the fetters to be removed from Tell, that he, an experienced steers- 
man might take the helm. But Tell steered toward the bare flank of the Axen- 
berg, where a naked rock projects like a small shelf into the lake. There 
was a shock — a spring. Tell was on the rock and the boat out upon the 
lake. 

" The freed man climbed the mountain, and fled across the land of 
Schwyz, and he thought in his troubled heart : ' What may not Gessler do 
to my family when Landenberg put out the eyes of the old man Melchthal 
on account of a servant's broken finger \ Either my innocent wife and child 
and fatherland must fall, or, bailiff Gessler, thou ! ' 

" So thought Tell, and with bow and arrow fled toward Kussnacht, and 
hid in a hollow way near the village. Thither came the bailiff ; there the 
bowspring twanged ; there the free arrow pierced the tyrant's heart. The 
whole people shouted for joy when they learned the death of their oppres- 
sor. Tell's deed increased their courage ; but the night of the New Year 
had not yet come." 



CHAPTER XIII. 

FRANCE. 

The Frenchman calls his country La Belle France, the beautiful France. 
He does not mean by this a land of beautiful scenery, for a large part of 
his country is flat and sandy ; but he means aland well cultivated and laden 
with fruit. In this sense France is beautiful, for the thrifty people have 
covered the face of the country with orchards, vineyards and groves. It has 
also beautiful scenery, in the east where it reflects some of the glories of the 
Alps and on the south where rise the tree-clad heights of the Pyrenees. 

The Vale of Chamouni.— Upon the eastern boundary of France, separ- 
ating it from Italy, lie the loftiest peaks and most magnificent glaciers of 
the Alps. Above them all towers Mont Blanc with the great Mer de Glace 
streaming down his side, and at his feet the beautiful Vale of Chamouni. 
This noted spot, about which so much has been said and sung, lies in the 
province of Savoy just south of Lake Geneva. It is the place in which to 
see the " Monarch of Mountains " in all his majesty. His giant sides as 
•well as his white summit, which he usually keeps veiled in mist, may here 
be seen in one full sweep, when the air is clear. From the summit down to 
the vale comes the great glacier filling up the deep valley between two 
mountain ridges to a depth of hundreds of feet. Scattered along over all of 
its fifteen miles of length are the huge masses of rock which have tumbled 
down from the sides of the mountain and are being slowly carried down to 
the melting point. Huge toppling crags and displaced obelisks of ice tower 
up among the boulders, and great chasms yawn across the surface. Look- 
ing down into one of these the most brilliant colors are seen reflected from 
the glittering sides. 

These treacherous crevasses have swallowed up many an unfortunate 
traveler by snapping open at his feet just as he thought his way was smooth 
and safe. A few who have slipped into open ones have been pulled out by 
their companions, while one, a shepherd boy, was swept along by the torrent 



296 Persons and Places in Europe. 

at the bottom to the valley below. The water had worn a channel under the 
ice through which the boy was carried and he came out with only a broken 
arm. 

In summer when the sun is shining a host of small streams spring from 
the mountain sides upon this sea of ice, and running down together form a 
river which by and by leaps into a crevasse, and is out of sight. But down 
in the valley it comes into view again — a great white cataract pouring into 
the vale of Chamouni. 

From the Mer de Glace many fine views may be had, not of Mont Blanc, 
for that is shut out by surrounding peaks, but of the other huge cones ris- 
ing like giant needles all around it. Down at their feet lies the vale of 
Chamouni covered with squares of wheat and rye and oats in all their various 
shades of green and yellow. The houses look like mere bird boxes from the 
height, and the fields like children's play-grounds. The yellow Arve, that 
muddy stream that so changes the clear waters of the Rhone, looks here 
like a piece of burnished wire, and the whole scene like a strip of fairy-land. 

The Bushing Rhone. — More than two hundred glaciers formed by the 
snows of Mont Blanc and his neighbors pour their contents into the Rhone. 
No wonder it is such a mad rushing river with all this burden of water to 
carry. And then sometimes great bowlders get in its path, or it has to force 
its way through a small gap between the rocks. 

The Rhone is a very rapid river. The water that at sunrise was among 
the chesnuts and walnuts of Savoy, at night has reached the rice fields of 
Carnogue. It has passed in the course of its day's run through the great- 
est variety of scenes. In Ain timber rafts were being prepared to float upon 
its surface down to Lyons, and shepherds were leading their flocks over the 
bordering hills. At Lyons the silk weaver's looms were rattling, and thou- 
sands of busy wheels turning out all manner of goods. Through Drone its 
bank was lined with the famous vintages of Zain. Busy people of Guard 
crowded upon it with more factories, and with mulberry and olive groves. 
Here, on the opposite side, lay the lands of the famous house of Orange, 
that had so much to do with the fortunes of the Dutch in after years ; and 
here, also, at Avignon in Vaucluse, was the home of Petrarch's " Laura." 
Farther down lay the dry and arid wastes of Aries, and the rice-fields of 
the Mediterranean. 

A glance at the past brings out another set of scenes that the Rhone 
has witnessed. Here, many years ago, stood the great Carthagenian hero, 
Hannibal, upon the western bank, looking across to the distant snow-clad 



France. *®' 



hills beyond which lay the land of the Romans. Behind him was an army 
of fifty thousand foot, nine thousand horse, and thirty elephants, all glit- 
terin/with gay trappings. The heavy Spanish infantry were covered with 
shleds and helmet" and breastplates of brass. The dingers from Sidy 
and the Balearic Isles flamed out in crimson caps and short tunics. Over 
all waved the ensigns of the different bands. A floating cloth, bearing the 
red and bine of Carthage, denoted the troops of the leader; a glittering 
crescent, a star or a sphere, the ranks of an ally 

Bnt tie chief fignre was that of the mighty Hannibal himself Em 
lithe, active and handsome figure set off with richly embroidered clothing 
his bearing that of a king, as with eye and mind he planned how to over- 
come the mad river before him and transport his troops to the other side 

In three days his glittering brigades were all across, and the Rhone saw 
Hannibal no more. But the Roman eagles continued to pass.over and row 
ttielr- Jleys up and down the Rhine for centuries afterward Then came 
the barges of the Gothic kings, drawn by horses struggling along the bank 
Lastly came the steamboats puffing in one day oyer a space that he horse 
could scarcely cover in a month, and carrying silk, wine, olive oil, watches 
and iewelry, instead of soldiers. 

The " Landes "—The mountains of eastern France run rapidly down 
to hilly plains in the center, and to flat sandy moors in the west. From 
the foot of the Pyrenees on the south to the mouth of the Garrone the 
western coast is nothing but a dreary strip of sand dunes the ££*tof 
which is only about ahundred and sixty feet. Like those of Jutland these 
sands are constantly shifting in the wind and covering up the cultivated 
fields around them. Many cabins, private dwellings, and even villages have 
been completely buried within the past two hundred years Before that 
time the sands were never known to do such damage, for they were kept 
down by forests. When the people began to clear the trees away the 
sand began to fly, and now they are trying to repair the damage by plant- 

ing forests again. . -, , -. 

Back of the dunes toward the interior stretches a region of wide level 
plains covered with coarse grass, thorny shrnbs and ^ken by innnmerable 
shallow ponds. This marshy region has been called the landes, and the 
people who live there " landescots." 

, A f ew years ago there was scarcely a sign of life in all this wide plain a 
few shepherds stalked abont on high stilts tending their sheep and they 
suffered terribly from the malaria caused by the stagnant water. .But 



298 Persons and Places in Europe. 

during the past few years, science has taught them how to make improve- 
ments here as well as in the dunes. Canals have been cut to drain the 
marshes and millions of trees planted to suck up the moisture. Now the 
malaria is gone and cottages and villages are spreading all over the once 
desolate plain. 

The Bone Caves.— The Mediterranean coast of France is also low and flat 
with numerous marshes and lagoons, for a long distance east of the Pyre- 
nees. But after passing the Rhone, bold rocky cliffs begin to appear until 
the peaks of Maritime Alps overlook the sea. Among these, in the very 
southeast corner is one of Nature's curiosities, by which men of science have 
learned much about the men and animals living in this part of the earth in 
the dark ages of the past. This is one of the bone caves, in which has been 
found the remains of many large animals which have long ago ceased to 
live in Europe, and a few years ago there was found here the petrified skel- 
eton of a man. It was discovered more than twenty feet beneath the sur- 
face, lying on its left side in a perfectly natural position, as if the person had 
been overtaken by death while asleep. Every part of the skeleton was 
there, but all was turned to stone. From the size and appearance of the 
petrified bones it was thought that the person had once belonged to a strong 
and powerful race. On the skull was an ornamental head-dress, made of 
shells and stag's teeth, strung together in a kind of network. The work- 
manship of this, especially the holes by which the pieces were fastened, was 
such as people of the stone age used to produce. 

Human bones have been found in other caves in France, and with them 
the rude stone implements used in the early ages. Scattered around were 
bones of the birds, animals and fish, especially salmon, which had been 
their food. Everything seemed to show they had found plenty to eat with- 
out much exertion. Those who have studied the appearance of the human' 
bones found in these caves say they denote a people of great size, with long 
flat feet, short arms with powerful muscles, large strong jaws, widely opened 
nostrils, and a fierce disposition. 

The animal bones found show that the climate was colder then than now. 
Reindeer were very plenty and besides there were huge hairy mammoth, 
wooly rhinoceros, and hippopotami, such as dressed for cold weather. 
There were also hyeanas and bears, all of great size, but no dogs, sheep or 
goats. 

The Plain of Caenac. — Very wonderful remains of former ages are 
found in the rocky peninsula forming the northwestern part of France. All 



France, 299 

this region, once called Brittany, is noted for its wild wooded scenery ; its 
quaint people, who are distant relatives of the ancient Britons, and still hold 
their legend of King Arthur ; and its numerous and interesting stone monu- 
ments ° These are much like the antiquities of Great Britain only that in 
the Plain of Carnac is a muchlarger group than the Stonehenge. The stones, 
ranging from ten to twenty-five feet in height, are set up in three groups over 
a distance of seven miles. Each group is carried out toward the end in 
eleven even rows of stones each a little lower than the one before it. 

On a high mound in the midst of the plain stands a church which was 
built by the early Christian missionaries, and dedicated to St. Michael. 
Recently a chamber was discovered beneath the mound about six feet long 
and four wide. The entrance, which had faced the east, was closed by two 
large slabs, and another, laid across the top, formed the roof. This slab had 
split through from the weight of earth above it, and the floor was covered 
several inches deep with a flour-like dust that had sifted down through the 
crevice. More than a hundred small beads of jasper were found beneath all 
this dust, and in a corner under a small flat stone was a necklace of ivory- 
bugles or beads. In a small recess on one side of the chamber was a mass of 
cinders, earth, and fragments of human bones. 

In another mound near by, thirty polished axes of stone and three neck- 
laces of green turquois were found. On some of the stones were rude carv- 
ings of wavy, curved and zigzag lines and spirals, showing that the people 
who made these belonged to the later period of the stone age when ornament 
as well as use was studied. ■ 

The simple people of Carnac have an easy way of settling the question o± 
how the stones came on the plain. They say that they are the petrified 
soldiers of a mighty army whom St. Comely turned to stone when he could 
oppose them in no other way. They also declare that sometimes at midnight 
the skeletons of these stones maybe seen in the churchyard doing penance 
for the sins they committed against the saint and listening very reverently 
to a sermon preached by Death himself. 

Gothic Aechitectuee.— Long years after the builders of the great 
stone avenues had passed away, another rude, uncivilized race occupied the 
land of France. These were the Goths who had come from the east and 
broken up the Roman empire. They were somewhat further advanced in 
the art of living than the ancient people of the iron and stone ages, but they 
knew little about arts and sciences. They knew enough, however, to ap- 
preciate the works of art that the Romans had left behind them. They 



300 Persons and Places in Europe. 

found use for the houses, public halls, palaces, baths, aqueducts, and 
bridges and after a time they began to try their hand at building. Taking 
the Roman buildings for patterns they set to work, but found many diffi- 
culties out of which they had to invent their way. The result was a style 
quite different, and at first inferior to that of the Romans, but as the Goths 
went on improving, they introduced many forms of beauty that are now 
admired more than the ancient styles. This new style was named after 
them, Gothic architecture. 

One of the chief features of this style was the pointed arches, which 
grew to be very graceful, and more light and airy than the solid round arch 
of the Romans. In making "groined arches," the Goths invented a way 
of supporting them with clusters of slender columns, branching off in ribs 
at the top, which gave to the interior of a building the appearance of the 
trunks, branches and interlacing boughs of a forest. 

Another idea which grew upon these builders was the beauty of a great 
deal of stained glass about the windows. So they put the small windows 
as close together as possible, and left only enough masonry between them 
to hold them up, so as to get in as much glass as possible. They made 
openings shaped like flowers of three or four leaves above the windows, 
and reduced the stones between to mere bars bending around the foliated 
forms in tracery. Finally, instead of small windows, they made one large 
one charmingly ornamented and surmounted with a pointed arch. 

Just about this time,— the end of the 12th century and the beginning of the 
13th, — there arose a great desire to build elegant cathedrals. All over 
France these buildings sprang up in all the beauty of graceful arches, tra- 
ceried windows, and carved foliage ; but before they were completed the 
fever died out, and nearly all were left unfinished. One of the most noted 
of these Gothic cathedrals in France is that of Rheims, which is also one of 
the finest in Europe ; another is that of Notre Dame in Paris. 

Battle Fields. — On the soil of France many important battles have 
been fought, — battles that have shaped the history of Europe. In Cham- 
pagne, where Chalons sur Mame is now situated, the progress of the terri- 
ble Attila and his horde of Huns was stayed. He had carried terror, 
destruction and death over all the Eastern Roman empire, and had pro- 
ceeded so far toward the west, when Aetius, a Roman general, assisted by 
some Goths and Franks, met him at Chalons. Here they gave him a ter- 
rible battle, in which he was utterly defeated. He was so chagrined that 
he was determined to bury himself alive in a grand funeral pile, with his 



France. 



301 



treasures, his women and his baggage wagons; but he changed his mind 
and lived to do some more ravaging in the south. But this battle may.be 
said to have stopped his career. 

In the northern part of France, in Aisne, the battle of Soissons was 
fonght between the Franks, who were a branch of the Gothic race, and the 
last of the Romans, after which the Romans left the Franks to ^emselves. 
Clovis,thekingof the Franks, then went on to enlarge and establish the 
kingdom which came to be called France. 

In the west, south of the Loire, is the field of Poitiers, where Charles 
Martel, a later king of the Franks, drove back the Saracens, who were 
threatening Europe with the same danger that Sobeiski averted at Vienna, 
nearly a thousand years afterward. The 
Saracens had carried their swords and the 
Mohammedan faith all over Spain, and had 
come as far north as Poitiers, when they en- 
countered the strong arm of Charles Martel. 
On account of the deadly destruction he 
dealt out to them that day, he was named 
<•' Martel" — the hammer. 

Karl the Great.— The Empire of the 
Franks passed in time into the hands of 
Charlemagne, a great grandson of Charles 
Martel, who, was not contented with the ex- 
tent of his dominions, and at once went to 
making war on his neighbors. He marched 
into Italy and conquered the Lombards, 
who had taken possession of the northern part; then into Spam and 
took from the Moors all of the country north of the Ebro ; then up into 
Saxony, where he met the sturdy Wittikind, with whom he had a long 
struggle This country gave him more trouble than all the others, but it 
was compelled to yield to the great Karl at last. Then he was king from 
the Ebro in Spain to the Baltic, and from the Atlantic to the Oder. So 
great a conqueror had not lived since Osesar. 

The great object that led Charlmagne to make all these conquests was 
that he might unite again all the broken fragments of the fallen Roman 
Empire He wished to see law and order and learning, such as the Romans 
had maintained, take the place of the confusion that had reigned since the 
coining of the barbarians. And he wished to see the Christian religion, in 




CHARLEMAGNE. 



302 Persons and Places in Europe. 

which he was a zealous believer, take the place of Paganism and Moham- 
medanism. 

As soon, therefore, as he had put together this vast region, nearly all 
that had belonged to the Western Roman Empire, he went to Italy and was 
crowned by the Pope, Emperor of Rome. Then he went home, and began 
to make laws, to erect tine buildings and establish schools of learning. He 
set an example to his subjects by studying nearly everything that was then 
taught, and tried to learn to write, but his fingers were so stiff with carry- 
ing the sword that he did not make much progress. He contented himself 
with the thought that his young subjects were enjoying privileges which 
no one had been wise enough to provide for him. 

When Charlemagne died his body was placed in a great Mausoleum at 
Aix-la-Chapelle, not in a coffin but on his throne clothed in his imperial robes, 
with his crown upon his head, his sceptre in his hand and his sword by his 
side. One hundred years afterward his tomb was opened and there sat the 
withered skeleton of all that was left of the great conqueror. The royal 
robes, crown, and sceptre were carried away, and are now at Vienna ; the 
throne and a few other relics are kept in the cathedral of Aix la-Chapelle, and 
over his tomb, which is just beneath the great dome, is a marble slab contain- 
ing the words, " Carolo Magno." 

Barbe Blue. — The conquered chiefs and the nobles of the country, 
Charlemagne appointed to govern the various parts of his great empire, al- 
lowing them to hold offices only so long as he chose ; but the weak kings 
who followed him were obliged to grant large favors to their officers to hold 
their allegiance. 

One of the French kings gave the nobles large tracts of land and agreed 
that their sons should inherit their property and titles, only when the king 
went to war all must be ready to turn out and help him fight. This was 
called holding lands in fief, and the system was called feudalism. It gave 
great power to the nobles who could band together and make war on each 
other, build strong castles where they were safe from all attacks, and rule 
as they chose over the people within the bounds of their territory. The 
strong sallied out in bands and robbed the weak, plundered travelers, and 
carried people off to their castles and held them until money was paid for 
their deliverance. The king could do nothing to stop these wrongs ; he him- 
self lived in constant terror lest his strongest barons should band together, 
and deprive him of his crown. 

It was the deeds of one of these powerful and wicked barons that gave 



France. 303 

rise to the story of " Blue-beard," only instead of wives it was children that 
this monster killed. 

The real name of the villain was Gilles de Retz Sienr, but the people 
called him Bar be-Uue— Blue-Beard. In his younger days he spent his for- 
tune in such riotous living that he wasted both his health and his money. 
In this state he came across an Italian magician, who said he could cure 
him by the use of his black arts. One of the remedies prescribed was the 
blood of young children, to be used as a bath. This he said would restore 
the baron, not only his health, but his fortune. 

De Retz retired to his castle near Nantes, with the wicked magician, 
and there during fourteen years the most horrible crimes were committed. 
Hundreds of young children were seized or enticed into the castle, where 
many were killed and others made to take the part of priests and priest- 
esses in the most horrible scenes, said to be the worship of the Devil. 

To destroy the traces of his crimes he burnt the bodies of his victims, 
and scattered their ashes to the winds, but forty bodies not so disposed of 
were found buried in one place and eighty in another. 

At length the people all around grew furious and demanded his death. 
The Duke of Britanny gave him a fair trial, and so much was proved against 
him that he was sentenced to be burned, but being a noble, he was strang- 
led instead. 

The Knights of Chivalry.— The terrible wrongs inflicted by the strong 
against the weak in feudal times, led a number of Christian nobles to band 
together to protect the helpless. They said it was a shame for those who had 
power to use it to oppress the weak, and that henceforth they would make 
it their duty to relieve all who were in distress, and especially to protect 
women and children. From this sprang that courteous treatment of women 
which distinguishes men of civilized countries from those of half-civilized 
or barbarian. 

The purpose of these nobles pleased the church and the king, and so 
there went out a decree from the council of Clermont saying that every 
person of noble birth at twelve years of age, should take a solemn oath be- 
fore the bishop of his diocese to defend the widows and orphans ; that 
women of noble birth, both married and single, should enjoy his special care ; 
and that nothing should be wanting to render traveling safe, and to destroy 
the evils of tyranny. 

The education of a nobleman's son for his career as a knight began when 
he was very young. Sometimes when only seven years old he was sent 



304 Persons and Places in Europe. 

to the court of his king, or the castle of a noble already famed for brave 
deeds and there he became the page or valet of the great man. He played 
with other well-bred children, went through vigorous gymnastic exercises 
to strengthen his body,and spent much time with the ladies of the household 
who taught him to be courteous,gentlemanly and to serve God. Thus good- 
ness,manly strength, and graceful manners became the leading traits of every 
knight. 

When fourteen years of age the young page became a squire. He now 
might wear a sword instead of a short dagger, and bear his lord's shield on 
the battle-field. Sometimes it happened that on the battle-field a young 
squire did such valiant service for his lord that he was then and there made 
a knight, but usually he had to wait until he was twenty one. A very 
grand ceremony always was held when a squire of high rank was to be made 
a knight. Amid a crowd of lords and ladies he knelt before the king or 
some great commander, who alone had the right to bestow the title, °and 
swore that he would protect, at the risk of his life, the cause of religion, 
the widow and orphan, and all ladies that should need his protection;°that 
he would be loyal to his chief, and would live a life of purity, temperance 
and uprightness. The king or lord before whom he knelt then gave him 
three blows on the back with his sword saying, " In the name of God of 
St. Michael and St. George, I dub thee knight; be brave, bold and loyal'." 

Then the young man mounted his steed and started out, thirsting for a 
chance to prove his courage. Clad in his coat of mail he was proof against 
all common enemies. Only another knight might unhorse him, when he 
would lie helplessly on his back like a turtle, held down by his heavy ar- 
mour, until some one helped him up. But this did not happen often. The keen 
scimeters of the Saracens, and all the weapons of warfare then used in Eu- 
rope, excepting those of the English archers, fell harmlessly upon his coat 
of mail, and his horse which was also clad in armour. He could ride 
unharmed through a host of common soldiers slaying scores on every side. 

Peter the Hermit.— While the knights were burning with a desire to 
prove their courage and win fame, a zealous monk of Amiens, was pre- 
paring to furnish them with just the opportunity they wished. Peter the 
Hermit, so called because he had given up wordly affairs and lived the life 
of a hermit, went on a pilgrimage from France to Jerusalem, and there he 
became very indignant at the wrongs done to the Christian pilgrims by the 
Turks, and also at the thought that these infidels should pollute the Holv 
City. J 




PETER THE HERMIT. 



306 Persons and Places in Europe. 

Filled with rage he returned to Europe and began to preach the duty of. 
every Christian to go to Jerusalem and drive out the Turks. He soon stirred 
up a great excitement, and a vast army of people, men women and children 
of all ranks, knights and nobles, lords and peasants, all started out on foot, 
and on horseback for the far away land of Palestine. 

Very few knew how long the journey was, or what dangers lay before 
them. Those who did expected to be delivered in some miraculous way, for 
they thought the mission on which they were going could not but receive 
the approval and assistance of God. So they set out without clothing, pro- 
vision, or anything, expecting to find all they needed as they went along. 
And such was their zeal and their blindness that they thought it right to 
rob the Jews, who they said had killed the Savior, and even to murder 
thousands of these poor people. 

When they came to Hungary they seized there whatever they wished, 
but this brought down upon them the hatred of the Hungarians, who fell 
upon them and slew thousands. 

Hardly twenty thousand of the vast throng that started out lived to 
reach the borders of Asia, and there these were nearly every one slain by 
the Turks. Peter escaped and found his way back in time to join the next 
great company of crusaders, as the cross-bearers were called. 

This throng was really the first crusade ; the other had been a mere rabble. 
This contained thousands of good warriors, the leading nobility of Europe, 
and the best blood of France, where the movement had started. But of these, 
thousands perished by sword and hardship on the way. Only a small por- 
tion of them reached Palestine, where after a fierce struggle they succeeded in 
capturing the Holy City. Godfrey of Bouillon was made ruler, — he refused 
to be crowned king where the Savior had been crowned with thorns. Peter, 
at the request of the army preached a sermon on the mount of Olives to the 
Christian conquerors. After this he returned to France rejoicing that his 
great mission had been a success. 

It did not remain a success though according to his views. Before he 
had been in his grave a century, Jerusalem was retaken by the Turks ; 
and though six other crusades, continuing through three centuries, drained 
Europe of thousands more of its leading men, the Turks were not driven out 
of Jerusalem. 

But results far greater than Peter or any of his followers expected, sprang 
from the Crusades. The people of Europe, who had hardly risen out of 
barbarism, saw the luxury and refinement of the Empire at Constantinople. 



France. 307 

They saw the results of industry in the east and the riches that could be 
gained by trade. They returned to Europe with new ideas. At home they 
found that the war had put an end to the strife between the dukes and 
barons by uniting them all in a common cause. And just about that time 
fire arms were coming into use, against which the knight's coat of mail was 
no protection. His shield and helmet and lance had to be laid aside, and 
then knight-hood went out of fashion. 

Trade and manufacture soon sprang up ; war ceased to be the chief ooject 
of life, and the middle classes had a chance to earn their living by honest 
toil. Thus another great step was taken in civilization. 

The Maid of Orleans. — There are few nations that have carried on more 
wars both at home and abroad than the French. They have been at war 
with all the countries around them, and with England they fought steadily 
for a hundred years. 

The cause of that great struggle, known in their history as the " hundred 
years war," was those Norman lands which William the Conqueror held 
when he went to fight the battle of Hastings . The French af teward insisted 
that his descendants, the kings of England, were the vassals of the French 
king, because William held those lands "in fief" to the king of France. 
The English on the other hand claimed not only a clear title to Normandy 
and Brrttany but, on the grounds of some marriages and intermarriages, they 
claimed the whole kingdom of France. 

The long struggle had continued for nearly seventy years, when Charles 
VII. came to the throne, or to what was left of it. The French were much 
weakened by the long conflict. Charles was sickly and indolent; his 
unnatural mother was trying to prevent him from being king, and Henry 
YI. of England had already been crowned king of France in the northern 
part, and recognized as such by all but a few in the centre and south.. 
These kept up the discouraging contest. 

While all this was going on, there was growing up at Domremy on the 
banks of the Meuse, a devout young girl, who was to be the deliverer of 
her king. This was Jeanne d'Arc or Joan of Arc. 

When only thirteen years of age Jeanne became possessed of the idea 
that heavenly beings came and talked with her-. She heard voices of the 
saints to whom she prayed, telling her to be a good girl, to go to confes- 
sions and perform her religious duties faithfully. These were only simple 
messages, but they filled Jeanne's soul with joy. Above everything else 
she prized these visits of her adored saints. She ceased to go with the vil- 



308 Persons and Places in Europe. 

lage young people and kept out of her mind every evil thought so as to be 
ready for her heavenly company. 

One day, as she was listening for these voices, she thought she heard 
them saying that she must go to the aid of her king. She began to weep 
at the thought of such a thing, and said that she was only a poor maiden 
who knew nothing of riding or of war, but the saints told her to go to Vau- 
couleurs where she would find a captain of the royal army and be led to the 

king. 

And so this simple country maid went to the court of her afflicted king, 
pointed him out from a number of courtiers all dressed like himself, won 
his faith in her mission and was given command of the French army. 
A suit of armour was made for her, and dressed in this she put herself at 
the head of ten thousand of the royal troops and led them against the 
English who were beseiging Orleans. Here she gained a great victory. 

Enthusiasm now took the place of discouragment among all of Charles' 
friends. The English, who at first ridiculed the soldier maid, became 
almost panic stricken wherever she appeared. Within three months she 
fulfilled her promise of leading Charles at Rheims to be crowned. 

In her suit of armour Jeanne stood by during the ceremony, and then 
thought her work done. Northern France which had declared for the 
English had now recognized Charles, and he was king of the whole coun- 
try. But the English still remained, and she was urged to stay and help 
drive them out. She consented to remain with the army, but she gained 
no more victories. The next year she was captured by the English and 
cruelly put to death. 

The blame, of this crime does not rest entirely on the English. 
They were not anxious to take her life, but the University of Paris, a set of 
strict religious teachers who had a great deal of power, declared that her 
claim to hearing heavenly voices was a wicked sin, which deserved the pun- 
ishment of fire. 

She was tried therefore, and condemned for sorcery, and amid a great 
crowd of people, in the city of Rouen, was burned to death. Charles, who 
owed to her his crown and his kingdom, made no effort to save her, and 
waited ten years before he published a declaration saying that she was 
innocent of the charge for which she had been burned and was a martyr to 
religion, her country and her king. But the people of France have always 
held in high honor this pure minded, patriotic girl, who certainly believed, 
whether others did or not, that she was commanded by Heaven to de- 



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JOAN OF ARC BEFORE THE KING. 



310 Persons and Places in Europe. 

liver her country, and who let no obstacles stand in the way of her obedi- 
ence. 

Catheeine de Medici.— Among the many noted women who have had 
much to do in shaping the course of French history, there is one who is 
remembered only for her evil deeds. One of the darkest crimes that stain 
the record of the rulers was planned by a woman. This Jezebel of France 
was Catherine de Medici, a member of the great Medici family of Florence. 

When she first came to France as the wife of Henry II., she professed 
to have no taste whatever for aifairs of state, and as long as her husband 
lived seems not to have shown any desire to manage them. But when her 
son, Francis II., husband of Mary Queen of Scots was reigning, she began 
to lay plots against those she wished out of the way. At this time she was 
on the side of the Huguenots, the French Protestants, who were on very 
bad terms with the Catholics. She planned with them a scheme to seize 
and imprison Francis and Mary, who were both Catholics, and to kill all 
Mary's relatives. But this was found out, and the Huguenot plotters were 
put to death. 

Then she plotted the death of a powerful Catholic duke, and tried to get 
Francis to give his consent ; but he would not listen to her proposal. Soon 
after this Frances died, and it was believed by many that his mother had 
caused him to be poisoned. 

Then the wicked woman had a chance to rule as she chose. Her son 
Charles, who was now made king, was young and weak, and let her have 
her way in everything. She soon took sides with the Catholics, and 
plotted the death of the leading Huguenot leader, but the assassin appointed 
to do the work only succeeded in wounding his victim. Afraid of what 
might follow, she then planned the death of all the Huguenots in one great 
massacre. 

The king very unwillingly signed the paper for this deed. He was told 
that the Huguenots were preparing to kill all the Catholics, and this was the 
only way to prevent it. Still he hesitated, and after the paper had been 
signed, sent to countermand the order. But it was too late. 

At four o'clock the next morning the terrible butchery began, and- for 
three days it was continued through the streets of Paris, until ten thousand 
Huguenots had been killed. Orders had been sent to other cities and there 
like massacres took place. Some say thirty thousand, some say sixty 
thousand were butchered in France at this horrible massacre of St. Bar- 
tholomew. 



France. 



311 



Poor Charles was never able to forget these terrible scenes. It is said 
that in his dying bed his mind was so tortured with the remembrance that 
he sweat drops of blood. His last words were, " 0, how much blood ! how 
many assassinations ! 0, what evil counsels have I followed." 

He died in the belief that he had been poisoned by his mother and his 
brother who succeeded to his crown. 

From this time until her death Catherine was engaged m making trouble 
between the different parties of 
the court, and died,— " unheeded 
in the fierce strife of wars that 
she had stirred up." 

The Man in the Ikon Mask. 
—For four hundred years there 
stood at the gate of St. Antoine 
in Paris, a building whose very 
name brought up thoughts of 
horror. It was used by the kings 
of France, from the time of 
Charles V., who built it, until the 
First French Revolution, as a 
prison in which they put such 
persons as had offended them, 
aroused their jealousy or stood in 
their way. 

There were eight round tow- 
ers in the building each full of 
cells, and beneath it dark dun- 
geons nineteen feet below the 
•courtyard. 

Here prisoners were kept for years. They were not allowed to receive or 
send messages to their friends, were in fact buried alive and no one ever 

knew their fate. 

When the enraged people of Paris in 1789 tore down this building, they 
found in it seven persons, one of whom had been there since he was eleven 
years old ; another had been shut up for forty years. When set free he 
was bewildered, like a man awaking out of his sleep. His reason was en- 
tirely gone. , 

But of all the prisoners known to have been in the Bastile none nave 




CATHERINE DI MEDICI. 



312 Persons and Places in Europe. 

awakened so much sympathy and curiosity as a man who was imprisoned 
there during the reign of Louis XI Y. He was known as the Man in the 
Iron Mask. His real name has never been found out. His face was always 
covered with a black velvet mask, fastened with steel springs, which he was 
forbidden, on pain of instant death, ever to remove. When the other 
prisoners heard mass, he was forbidden to speak or show himself, and 
armed soldiers who stood by with loaded muskets had orders to shoot him 
if he made the attempt. 

The great fear of whoever had put this man there seemed to be that he 
would let some one know who he was. To prevent this he was constantly 
watched by the governor, who alone seems to have been entrusted with the 
secret. He alone brought the prisoner his meals, attended to his 
toilet, and carefully examined or destroyed the linen he had worn, lest he 
should have left some mark upon it telling who he was. When he died 
everything he had worn or used was burned. 

How long the man in the Iron Mask was held a prisoner is as great a 
secret as his name. He was at the Bastile five years before he died; was 
brought there in a closed litter, accompanied by a mounted guard and this 
governor, who had come from another prison to take charge of the Bastile. 
Twenty-two years before the same governor took two prisoners carefully 
guarded from one prison to another, where one of them died. It is believed 
that the man in the Iron Mask was the survivor. That would make twenty- 
seven years he was held a prisoner, and how much longer will probably 
never be known. 

French Revolutions. — All the wrongs and oppressions that the French 
people suffered through a long line of kings, began during the reign of 
Louis XIY. to gather a storm of wrath. While Louis XV. reigned the 
storm kept gathering. When Louis XYI. came it burst out in terrible 
fury. Enraged at the thought of their past wrongs, their half starved con- 
dition, their burden of taxes, hearing of the success of the American Declara- 
tion of Independence, and having lost all respect for their kings, they seized 
and placed under the guillotine the unfortunate Louis, who had been more 
indulgent than all the rest. His queen, Marie Antoinette, daughter of Maria 
Theresa of Austria, shared the same fate a few months later, and then the 
storm began to rage. AYith monarchy swept away, the maddened people 
destroyed everything connected with it. All rank, all grades of society, and 
even the Christian religion was declared abolished. The worship of Reason 
was publicly set up ; but reason had nothing to do with the scenes that f ol- 




THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK. 



314 Persons and Places in Europe. 

lowed. Blind rage, envy, jealousy, hatred, every evil passion seemed let 
loose upon the unfortunate French of Paris in 1793. 

An assembly declaring themselves the ruling power ordered every day the 
death of from sixty to seventy persons. For seven weeks a reign of terror 
followed in which no one knew who would be the next victim. Fully fifteen 
hundred persons were sent to the guillotine during this period. 

Then the tide turned against those who had caused these murders and 
they met the same fate they had lavished upon others. This was the first 
French Revolution. When the storm was spent a young Republic began 
to bring order out of the chaos. 

But this new government was surrounded by foes from without. All the 
other sovereigns of Europe felt that the growth of a republican government 
on their borders was a menace to their own thrones. A reign of terror 
might be begun in their own capitals. So they came to compel the French to 
restore their fallen monarchy. 

Then Napoleon Bonaparte appeared as the defender of the young Repub- 
lic. At first a plain unassuming man, his success in destroying the enemies 
of France filled him with ambition and the people with admiration. They 
made him Consul for ten years. And then he made himself Emperor. 
Monarchy was again established. 

Napoleon's Empire ended at Waterloo. But monarchy was continued, 
for then the foreign powers went to Paris and put a crown on Louis XVIII. 

All went well for fifteen years ; then came the Revolution of 1830. 
Charles, the successor of Louis had tried to take back a little of the liberty 
that the people had gained, and they set him aside, putting in his place 
Louis Philippe. This was simply a revolution from one king to another 
and there was no serious outbreak. 

Eighteen years passed and then came the Revolution of 1848. 
Louis Philippe saved his life by flight. His throne was burned, and 
another republic was declared, with Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, nephew of 
the great Napoleon, as president for four years. 

When his term of office expired, another revolution broke out during 
which he quietly gathered the reins in his own hands as his uncle had done, 
and was declared Emperor Napoleon III. 

This last monarchy lasted until the war with Prussia in 1870, brought 
on by Napoleon III. without cause, and ending disastrously for the French. 
The assembly declared that he was the cause of the calamities of the war 
and that none of his family should ever occupy the throne of France 






je. 



France. 



315 



Then the present republic was set np, which has, so far, successfully resisted 
the pretensions of two lines of monarchs, and the easily excited passions of 
the people. 

The Bee ad Crust Dealer. — The people of France have the virtues of 
industry and economy in a marked degree. By careful management they 
live comfortably, and even elegantly, on wages that others find hardly 




TAKING THE BASTILE. 



enough to keep them alive. They are very ingenious, too, in finding ways 
of making money. 

A remarkable example of both these virtues was an old French soldier 
who made a fortune out of what many people throw away. 

Returning to Paris after the battle of Waterloo, he found his services 
no longer needed in the army, and he had no other means of support, his 
military training having unfitted him for a trade, and he had no capital. 
The only thing he found to do to keep him from starving, was rag picking 
which he tried for a time, but it led to meetings with his old comrades and 
he could not bear their scoffs. He changed his occupation to rag sorting 



: 



316 Persons and Places in Europe. 

where lie could remain indoors, but this made him sick and he was taken 
to the hospital. While there he fell in with a poultry fattener, with whom, 
after he came out, he worked until he had saved quite a little sum of 
money. With this he proposed to start in business for himself, and was 
looking about for a good location for a wine-shop or eating-house, when he 
happened to pass the place where he had worked as a rag-sorter, and here 
a bright idea struck him. He remembered that the pickers always found 
quantities of bread crusts among the refuse in the streets, which he be 
lieved could be put to good use. So he went around to the restaurants 
and eating-houses, and offered to buy the crusts they had been in the habi 
of throwing away. The restaurant keepers thought he must be crazy, bu 
of course were very willing to sell their waste bread. 

In a few days he appeared in the market place with several baskets full 
of neat looking, crisp and tempting bread-crusts. In a short time his stock 
was exhausted, and he had no trouble afterward in disposing of all he could 
prepare. In a short time he began to supply several eating-houses with his 
prepared crusts for rabbit stews, and grated bread crumbs for the cooks to 
use in powdering their cutlets. His business rapidly increased, until he 
had a factory, employing fifty men and women in sorting and cleaning his 
crusts, and six carts and horses to collect and bring his scraps to the fac- 
tory. He also employed a large number of young girls in packing the lit- 
tle baskets of crisped squares, and children in grinding to powder the 
scraps, which, too far gone for any other use, were burned to cinder and sold 
for tooth powder. 

The old soldier always superintended all the operations of his large 
establishment, and impressed upon everybody that not a crumb should be 
wasted. When, at last, he retired from business, it was on an income of 
thirty thousand francs a year. 

The Vineyards of Champagne. — One of the most profitable indus- 
tries of France is wine-making, and among all of its noted vineyards, that 
of ChamxDagne is the most famous. A strip of country, about thirty miles 
long and two broad, in this province, is almost entirely devoted to vines, but 
the southern slopes of the hills are the most valuable for grape raising. 

The planting and dressing of these sunny slopes is carried on very sys- 
tematically. Every third year new vines are set out, at the bottom, and 
from there trained until they reach the top. After each harvest all the 
vines are cut off close to the ground and the stump buried ; next spring the 
shoots come out three or four inches higher up the hill, and so keep 



France. 



317 



growing until they reach the top. In this way the whole surface is kept 
covered, but the best crops are gathered about midway up, where the frosts 
are less likely to trouble the fruit. 

The gathering begins in the latter part of September, and then there is a 
great rush and hurry to get all the grapes in before they are touched by the 




NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 

frost. Not only all the people of the neighborhood, but many who come 
from a distance, are employed in the picking, sorting and packing. 

Sometimes the owner of the vineyard has his own press ; then the grapes 
are laid on the platform, as they are gathered, and the juice drops into the 
vats below. This "first dropping," without the application of pressure, is set 
aside by itself, and made into a very choice wine. The screws are then 
applied to the press, and another and larger flood of juice runs into the 
vats. This makes wine of the first quality. Another turn of the 
screws brings out a second quality of juice. Thus several different brands 



318 Persons and Places in Europe. 

are secured from each pressing, the last obtained by putting the screws to 
their utmost tension, brings out a red wine of poor quality, for the use of 
the workmen about the establishment. 

The various pressings are put into casks, all properly marked, and stowed 
away until the first fermentation is over ; then an interesting operation 
takes place. To give the required flavor, the product of the vines of one 
locality must be mixed with those of another, in just the right propor- 
tions. A " taster" is employed in every establishment to mix these, until 
he knows by the taste that the right degree is obtained. He notes carefully 
the proportions he has used, and then the large vats are filled with the dif 
ferent juices in just the same proportion. When these have become 
thoroughly mixed the liquor is drawn off into hogsheads and put into bot- 
tles ; but it is not ready yet for market. It must remain all winter in deep, 
cold cellars, built for the purpose with great care. Early in tlie spring it 
goes through a second fermentation, which gives it its sparkling qualities, 
then for another long period of eighteen months the bottles remain on their 
sides, watched and shaken a little every day, until the sediment gathers 
about the cork. Then a workman very skillfully draws out the cork in 
such a way as to bring out with it all the sediment, but scarcely a drop of 
the clear liquid. 

Up to this time the liquor has been simply and purely the juice of the 
grape, with no addition, except in rare cases where a little sugar is found 
necessary, on account of a wet or cold season. But now each bottle 
recives a quantity of sugar, dissolved in a mixture of old wine and brandy, 
more or less, according to the country to which it is to be sent. If for 
America, not over one per cent, of brandy is used ; if for England, three or 
four per cent. After this mixing the bottles are corked, tinfoiled or leaded, 
and packed away ready for shipping. 

Flower-Farming. — Many of the people in southeastern France make 
their living by raising flowers, — a business that results in crops of greater 
beauty than even the rich clusters of the grapes, and a final product far less 
harmful. The flowers are made into delicate perfumes to please people's 
noses, not to scorch their stomachs and set their brains on fire. 

Flower- farming is carried on in other parts of Europe, but nowhere so 
extensively as in southern France. Here almost every field is a garden, 
every proprietor a flower-grower, and every breath of summer wind ladened 
with fragrance. 

Who would not be a harvester there, where the crop is snowy mounds of 



France. 



319 



white orange blossoms, or purple violets, clustering jasmines, honeyed tube- 
roses, or oceans of crimson, pink, white and yellow roses, of every size and 
variety ! 

As is most proper and fitting, the origin of this beautiful business was a 
pair of lovers . Pierre was a poor but honest young Frenchman, who was very 
anxious to marry pretty Marie, the maid of his choice. But Marie's father 
said she should never marry a beggar. If Pierre could show twenty thous- 
and crowns, very well, the 
wedding day might be fixed ; 
if not, Marie should die an 
old maid rather than marry 
Pierre. 

They were standing in 
Pierre's little flower garden 
when Marie told him her 
father's decision. " Twenty 
thousand crowns ; " he cried 
in despair. ' ' Why all I have, v 
these few poor acres, that S 
little vineyard, and these 
olive trees would not bring 
a fifth of that sum," and his 
eyes rested on the flowers 
around them. "How I 
wish" he said, sadly, "I 
could coin these flowers into 
gold !" 

These words came back 
to him, afterward, bring- 
ing a new idea. He vis- 
ited the village druggist early the next morning, and together they went 
through the little flower garden, the druggist sniffing, ogling, and even tast- 
ing the pretty petals and fragrant stamens. 

Soon after this visit, Pierre was seen shifting his fences and enlarging 
his garden. Now he took in a slip of his vineyard, now a corner of his fields, 
then he went off to the forest with his men, to search for fine blacking mould. 
The next day he was busily sowing, cutting and trans-planting in his garden. 
The people thought he was getting crazy ; they advised him to pull up his 




JOSEPHINE. 






820 Persons and Places in Europe. 

useless flowers and grow leeks and garlic like a sensible man. But Pierre 
shook his head, and Marie encouraged him in his obstinacy. The old 
Italian druggist, too, was forever coming and whispering to Pierre in the 
garden, and chuckling over the flowers. 

The summer passed, and in the spring what a glorious garden Pierre's 
was ; it made the old Italian chuckle more than ever. Then they began to 
gather the flowers and Marie came over and helped. A fire was built in the 
furnace and a strange brewing and simmering was begun, with the lean 
Italian rubbing his hands over it as though he were some horrible wizard 

That summer, Josephine, the wife of the then Consul Napoleon, was asked 
by a friend of the Italian druggist to accept the dedication of a delightful 
new essence, quite a new discovery. She graciously did so, and the products 
of Pierre's little garden went off with lightning-like rapidity. All Paris 
began to demand this new and fashionable essence, and poor Pierre's garden 
could not begin to supply it. He turned all of his land into flower-gardens, 
bought more, and raised more and more flowers, which now indeed were 
turning to gold in his hands. 

Marie's father consented to have the wedding day fixed, for though the 
twenty thousand crowns were not ready yet, he saw that it would not take 
long for Pierre to win them, and many more besides. 

And the people who had laughed, advised and scolded, now blessed Pierre 
Lescaut, for he had put them in a way of making far more money out of 
their lands than they could by raising leeks and garlics, and thus it came 
about that every year during the months of May and June nearly the whole 
of Provence is a bower of beauty and fragrance, and the people well-to-do 
and happy. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



SPAIN. 



A bird's-eye view of Spain would show a curious wave-like appearance in 
the surface, as though it had once been a mass of huge heaving billows, 
suddenly caught and held fast as they stood with their crests tossed high 
in the air, and deep valleys between. First, along the Mediterranean coast 
rises the tops of the Sierra Nevada, with the snow-covered peaks, Veletaand 
Mulahacen, towering higher even 
than any of the Pyrenees ; this bil- 
low sinks into the valley of the 
Guadalquiver, beyond which rises 
the Sierra Toledo, giving place to 
the Tagus valley ; then conies the 
Sierra Guadarama which sinks 
down into the broad valley of the 
Bouro, on the west, and the Ebro 
on the east. Then, as if to make 
up for the wide interval, comes in 
regular ocean fashion, the fifth bil- 
low, — the towering range of the 
Pyrenees extending onward in the 
west as the Cantabrian. 

But there is this difference in the shape of these frozen earth-waves and 
the ocean billows ; their descent on the south side is in broad, flat terraces 
ending in abrupt steeps. The northern slopes are more gentle. 

The Pyrenees.— The largest of these billows^ the one which separates 
France from Spain, has a curious wavy make-up, now a peak, now a pass, 
but its formation resembles a huge backbone more than ocean waves. From 
the central range, which runs nearly east and west, branches extend outward 
on each side, like ribs from a backbone. Where the " ribs " join the spine, 




322 Persons and Places in Europe. 

there is a high spur, corresponding to the hummocks on a backbone and 
between are the hollows or passes. 

There is the same difference between the northern and southern slopes of I 
the Pyrenees that there is in the other ranges . On the French side are beauti- 
ful valleys, carpeted with rich meadows, and wooded hills, brilliant with 
beeches and maples, oaks and firs. Cottages and villages are set thickly 
about the slope, and hundreds of streams hurry on their way to the Garonne 
and the Adour. 

But on the Spanish side are broad terraces scantily clothed, ending 
abruptly in bare rugged steeps. 

" Bano del Bio."— In summer the sun shine on the wide basins and 
flat shelves of the central plains of Spain, makes the sands almost like burning 
coals, and the hot air rising from them carries the moisture of the sea-breezes 
far up into the mountains before it collects into drops. Falling there, it 
reaches the rivers, and is quickly carried back to the sea, leaving the land 
dry. 

Again in winter the table lands grow so cold that all the winds blow 
toward the sea, and so they receive little moisture. The earth becomes 
parched and covered with a thick coat of fine dust, and the air grows hazy 
as in a fog with these fine flying particles. During the hot days in sum- 
mer, when the heat is almost unbearable, and the air dim with dust, the peo- 
ple go for relief to the nearest river for a " bano del rio," a river-bath. 

Early in the morning the whole household sets out, the " senoritas " in 
a covered cart, with "senors" on horse-back, for the river side. They cross 
the "campo," the treeless plain, knee-deep in dust and thistles, with per- 
haps here and there a threshing-floor, where every day the oxen are driven 
round and round treading out corn, peas and oats. Presently they come in 
sight of the river, just as the morning haze of gray and purple begins to 
break away from the Sierras. Where seemed to rest a heavier cloud looms 
up the-jagged edge of dark-brown, rugged hills. The whole river and land- 
scape become one hot mass of crimson light. 

The path of the party now becomes more difficult, running between high 
bowlders on one side,which half shut out the sky, and a deep, rocky chasm 
on the other extending downward a hundred feet or more— the bed of a 
mountain's torrent, now dry. 

At the river they unsaddle the horses, and the creatures quickly plunge 
into the water, while their masters prepare for bathing. On the sides of the 
river the rocks form huge chairs, into which the bathers then take 



Spain. 323 

their seats, with the water up to their shoulders, and lazily allow the cool 
water to soothe their skins and nerves. The ladies clothed to the neck in 
brilliant bathing gowns, red, yellow and blue, hold in one hand an umbrella 
to keep off the sun, in the other, the ever-present fan. They make a very 
pretty picture, sitting there, with the green bed of the river extending on each 
side behind them the steep banks overhung with rose pink, oleanders and 
pomegranites, and in the distance the saw-like edges of the Sierra Morena. 
And the delicious coolness of the water makes them forget the hot air into 
which they must again return. 

The Paradise of Spain.— Some of the most fertile and well watered 
regions of Spain lie in the south, where the beautiful valleys of the Sierra 
Nevada abounds in almost every kind of plant, fruit and flower. In the 
valley of Granada, the apple, pear and strawberry blossom by the side of 
the orange, cactus, and sloe. On the other sideof therangem theLaAlpu- 
iarra region, the trees and shrubs of northern climates grow just above the 
olive and the vine, and below these, in the valleys, are the banana, cotton 

and sugar cane. 

In one of these beautiful vallies is the village of Lanjalon, which bears 
the name of the " Paradise of Spain." It is perched on the southern end 
of a spur of the Sierra Nevada, below it is a deep gorge, containing a noisy 
little stream on its way to the Mediterranean, above a giant wall of rock and 
all around a girdle of noble mountains. 

The village itself is a long street of white, flat-roofed houses, with a tiny 
park in the center. The shelving platform on which it stands, throughout 
its length and breadth, is a tangled wilderness of pomegranate, fig, apricot, 
and orange trees. For oranges Lanjalon is especially famous, while it 
abounds in all the other fruits of this most fruitful region. On every side 
they gleam through the glossy foliage "like golden lamps ina green night," 
some one says. They hang temptingly over every path, and perfume every 
mountain breeze that sweeps down this happy valley. 

Gibraltar.— Like a last angry spurt, tossed up by an offended wave 
when it meets with a resistance it can not overcome, the rock of Gibraltar 
appears to have been thrown up by a heaving wave of earth that could not 
succeed in reaching the surface. Only this jagged crest appears and over 
the strait is its twin brother, the " Apes Hill." 

The rock of Gibraltar is a steep, broken mass towering up above the sea 
on three sides with the low, sandy strip that connects it with the mainland 
on the other. The surface at a distance looks bare, but closer, acacia. 



324 Persons and Places in Europe. 

fig, and orange trees appear, growing in sheltered places, and among the 
animals that still run about wild are the Barbary apes, the onlfwilj 
monkeys in Europe. 

The general appearance of Gibralter is a queer mixture of threatening 
fierceness and beauty, peace and industry. Every nook and cranny deal 
to the top, bristles with artillery. Barracks rise tier above tier upon The 
ledges The black muzzles of cannon peep menacingly out of small round 
port-holes of which the rock seems to be full. Sentries are pacing to and 
iro. The tattoo of drums and roar of cannon announces the opening and 
closing of the great gates twice each day. ° 

Farther down are more white barracks, amid gay villas surrounded with 
gardens, rich green lawns, winding walks with white marble seats here and 
there, beautiful shrubbery, geraniums in great abundance and groves of 
oranges, lemons and figs. 

On a shelving ledge on the west side of the rock near its northern ex- 
tremity is the town, full of all manner of varied life. There are busy 
Moors from the opposite shores of Barbary with snow white turbans flow- 
ing robes, bare, dark legs and loose slippers; Jews in gaudy embroidered 
costumes, with broad, many colored sashes around their waists and ba^y 
white trousers; elegant Spanish caballeros with tight fitting coats and 
breeches fastened down at the sides with silver buttons; pretty, dark'eyed 
Genoese women in scarlet cloaks and hoods, trimmed with black velvet- 
and dazzling Spanish « senoritas " with sweeping black lace veils and grace- 
ful mantillas. Mingling with these are the soldiers and officers off duty 
dressed in the sober English " coat and pants." ' 

The rock of Gibraltar on the inside is full of hollow caverns extending 
down to unknown depths, and all opening where their mouths can 
scarcely be reached The greatest of these is the cave of St. Michael's, 
about three hundred feet below the summit. In it is a hall hung with stal- 
actites from floor to roof, and abounding in fearful chasms of which no one 
has ever found the bottom, and numerous galleries leading off into re-ions 
that have never been explored. 

The Siege of GiBulLTAR.-There is no place in the world that can be 
so easily held from an enemy as the rock of Gibraltar. When strongly 
fortified as it is at present, it can resist the fiercest and most prolonged 
attacks, both from land and sea. On all sides the guns and gunners are 
protected by solid walls of rock, behind which their stations have been 
chiseled. No amount of « cannon or grape » can make any impression on 



Spain. 325 

these defenses, while the attacking side is constantly exposed to the fire of 
some of the many loop-holes. 

The first persons known to have nsed this rock as a fortress, were the 
Moors when they came in under the leadership of Tarik to war against the 
Goths Their leader built a fort upon the top, and this gave it the name 
of " Hill of Tarik." A few hundred years afterward a Moorish engineer 
built a number of strongholds about it, but these were not sufficient for its 
defense It was captured by the Christians, and several times passed from 



GIBRALTAR. 



one party to the other, during fierce struggles for the possession of Spain. 
Finally, the Spaniards gained it and made it stronger, and then it was 
thought to be untakable. ( 

But in the beginning of the eighteenth century, during the War o± the 
Spanish Succession," the English fleets with the assistance of the Dutch 
succeeded in taking the rock of Gibraltar. Then began a series of attacks 
and sieges by the Spaniards to get it back again, the last and most terrible 
of these lasted from 1779-1783. The Spaniards threw up a line of works 
across the narrow isthmus completely shutting ofi the garrison from sup- 



326 Persons and Places in Europe. 

plies by land, while a powerful fleet anchored in the bay to prevent their 
receiving help by sea. For three weeks a constant fire was poured upon the 
rock from 80 mortars and 200 pieces of battering cannon, but with no effect. 

One night the English sailed out and destroyed the line of earth-worki 
between them and the town, but the Spaniards immediately rebuilt them. A 
thousand more pieces were added to the besieging artillery, and a host of 
vessels surrounded the rock by sea. Still the English aj>peared as strong 
as ever, and one of their admirals broke through the line of ships with sup- 
plies. 

When three years had passed away and still the garrison showed no signs 
of surrender, ten enormous floating batteries, thought to be capable of 
resisting all attacks, were fitted out by the Spanish, and then began one of 
the most dreadful cannonades upon the rock that was ever known. J c 
lasted for hours, and the red hot shot used by the English begun to 
tell upon the batteries. At midnight nine of them were on fire. About 
four hundred of the crew were humanely rescued from the water by tlie 
British; the rest perished in the flames, by explosions or drpwning. 
Only sixteen of the English were killed. 

A number of attempts were afterward made to storm the rock facing the 
land side but they only resulted in great loss to the Spaniards. 

Meanwhile the English received fresh supplies and the siege was raised 
nearly four years after it had begun. A peace was made by which it was 
agreed that the English should keep the fortress and they have been the 
undisputed possessors ever since. 

Spain's Invaders. — When Spain first appears upon the page of history 
it is a land of great natural riches, abounding in every kind of cattle, fruit, 
and minerals. Gold, silver, quicksilver, precious stones, marble and other 
valuable building material were obtained in great quantities. The Phoe- 
nicians came here to trade, and planted colonies along the borders of the 
Mediterranean . 

Then from Carthage, on the African Coast, came the great warrior Hanni- 
bal and conquered the "Iberians," as the inhabitants were called. Then came 
the Romans who both conquered and civilized the people until " Espania," 
as they named the country, became one of the principal seats of Roman 
le .rning and literature. 

Into this state of peace and plenty broke the barbarian deluge. First 
the Alani tribes, who came only a little way and mixed with others who 
came afterward. Then the Suevi who passed over to the northwest and 



Spain. ^ 27 

inally down into Portugal, where their descendants now live. The third 
3ribe was the fierce Vandals whose terrible doings has given the term 
< vandalism " to such crimes as they committed. 

The Romans unable in their now weakened state to drive back these 
savage foes called to their aid the Goths, or Visi Goths as the western 
branch of these people were called, to distinguish them from those who had 
settled in the east. These Goths, who had already a large empire on the 
borders of the Pyrenees, had shown themselves to be less savage than the 
other barbarian tribes, and the Romans made treaties of friendship wich 
them. But after driving out the Vandals the Goths decided to take the 
government in their own hands. So the Roman rule in Spam ended m the 
year 471, about twenty-five years after they left England and fifteen before 
Clovis drove them from France at the battle of Soissons. 

Bernabdo del CABPio.-The reign of the Moors in Spam was one of 
great splendor. Arts and learning flourished, and the schools of the Span- 
ish Mohammedans became so celebrated that they were visited by students 
from all over Europe. Magnificent palaces and gardens arose filled with 
all the rich luxury that the eastern nations so much enjoy. But their 
religion was that of the false prophet, and in the north where the Moors 
had never fully conquered the- Gothic and Spanish natives, grew up a zeal- 
ous race of Christians, who in time became strong enough to make war on 
the Moors. Gradually the provinces of the north extended, and small 
kingdoms grew up, among them Leon and Castile. GaUant knights, who 
had been to Palestine in the crusades, came down from France to assist the 
Spaniards against the Mohammedans, Moors or Saracens, as they were also 

During this time lived the famous knight, Bernardo del Carpto, who 
gained great renown by fighting against the Moors But there was one 
trouble that gnawed at his heart. During his whole life his father had 
been held for a small offense by his uncle, the king. Bernardo had , often 
plead in vain with the king for his father's release, and at last left the 
court in anger, joined the Moors, took up his headquarters at the ^castle ol 
Carpio at Valencia. Some say that while there -he fought with the Moors 
against Charlemagne in the pass of the Pyrenees, and that it was his 
sword that laid low the hero Roland. 

A.fter a while the king told him that if he would surrender the castle ol 
Caipio his father should be released. The hero consented to do so, and 
mounting his horse rode out to meet the king's train in which it was said 



328 Persons and Places in Europe. 

his father was coming — "a ransomed man." But when he reached the 
stately horseman that they said was his "long imprisoned sire," he found 
it was his father's corpse. 

After this he left Spain to return no more and went to France, where the 
tradition says he became a noted knight-errant. 

The Cid. — Another Spanish hero who became still more famous in Spain 
for his exploits against the Moors was the famous Cid whom the Spaniards 
called el Campeador — the champion. His real name was Rodrigo Diaz. 

As nearly as can be learned he was born in the time of Ferdinand the 
Great, who had united the kingdoms of Leon and Castile into one powerful 
Monarchy and was fast driving the Moors toward the south. When Ferdi- 
nand died the Cid displeased the son who became king and was obliged to 
leave court and give up his estates. Collecting a band of followers he then 
began his famous wars on the Moors. 

A book called " The Chronicles of the Cid," giving a full account of the 
life of this hero was for many years the favorite story book of Spain. It tells 
in a quaint way how " My Cid" took the town of Alcocer. "He pitched 
his tent securely, having the Sierra on one side and the river on the Other. 
And he made all his people dig a trench that they might not be alarmed 
neither by day nor night. 

"And' my Cid lay before Alcocer fifteen weeks ; and when he saw that the 
town did not surrender, he ordered his people to break uj3 their camp as if 
they were flying and they left one of their tents behind them and took their 
way along the Salon, with their banners spread. And when the Moors saw 
this they rejoiced greatly and there was a great stir among them, and they 
praised themselves for what they had done in withstanding him, and said 
that the Cid's barley had failed him and he fled away. And they said 
among themselves, let us pursue them and spoil them, for if they of Terul 
should be before us the honor and the profit will be theirs and we shall have 
nothing. And they went out after him, great and little, leaving the gates 
open and shouting as they went ; and there was not left in the town a man 
who could bear arms. 

" And when my Cid saw them coming he gave orders to quicken their 
speed, as if he was in fear, and would not let his people turn till the Moors 
were far enough from the town. But when he saw that there was a good 
distance between them and the gates, then he bade his banner turn and 
spurred towards them crying, ' Lay on knights ; by God's mercy the spoil 
is our own.' 

' ' In one hour three hundred Moors were slain, and the Cid got between 
them and the Castle and stood in the gateway, sword in hand, and there 
was great mortality among the Moors . And my Cid won the place and planted 
his banner upon the highest point of the Castle. 




THE ALCAZAR AT SEGOVIA. 



330 Persons and Places in Europe. 

• 

u But when the Moorish kings heard of this they came up with a ff reat 
force against the Cid and beseiged him, as he had the natives of the Castle 
until he had no bread or water for his men. Then he called his followers 
and said to them, ' Ye see that the Moors have cut off our water, and we 
have but little bread ; they gather numbers day bv dav, and we become 
weak. JNow, if it please you, let us go out and fight with them, though 
they be many m number, and either defeat them or die an honorable death « ' 
bo they went out with their shields over their hearts, and their lances 
lowered. < Many a shield was pierced that day, many a false corselet broken 
many a white streamer dyed with blood, and many a horse left without a 
Sr e ?V but "JP^y among the Moors. Few of the Cid's men fell. At last 
the Moors, disheartened, began to give away. Then they lied, pursued by 
rile Lmristians. 

'' When the victors returned and began to divide the spoil they found 
enough to make them all rich men. The Cid from his portion, prepared a 
tine present for king Alfonso— thirty horses all saddled and bridled each 
with a sword hanging from the saddle bow, and told the messenger to say 
tnat they knew how to gain their way against the Moors." 

The Alhambra.— The last stronghold of the Moors in Spain was Gran- 
ada, where stood their grand palace,— the Alhambra. This beautiful 
place, % about which whole books have been written, -was built by the early 
Moorish kings, both for a palate and a fortress. They tilled it with every 
possible luxury and surrounded it with a lofty wall, within which was 
room for fifty thousand defenders. Every one of its numerous buildings 
was decorated with marvelous frescoes, and surrounded by beautiful gar- 
dens, groves, parks and fountains. It would seem as if nothing were want- 
ing m this k < castle of pearls " to furnish all the pleasure the Moorish heart 
could desire. 

The grand apartment of the Alhambra is the "Hall of Lions," made 
entirely of marble and alabaster, surrounded by a hundred marble columns 
and ornamented with the most delicate fretwork. In the centre is a splen- 
did fountain supported by thirteen lions, which has given the name to the 
hall. Upon the alabaster bowl of the fountain, which rests upon the lions' 
backs are several curious inscriptions, such as the Mohammedans were fond 
of putting upon their most pleasing works. One of these says : 

" Beautiful is the stream which flows from my bosom, thrown high into 
the air by the profuse hand of Mohammed. His generosity excels the 
strength of lions." 

The Hall of Abencerrages is still more beautifully decorated. The 
ceiling is of cedar wood, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, ivory and silver. The 
walls are ornamented with sculptures of the most elegant and intricate 



Spain. 



331 



designs. The colors of these are still brilliant, and the tracery in perfect 
order, though put there more than five hundred years ago. 

Passages from the court of lions lead into various halls. One is the 
hall of the ambassadors, another the sleeping apartment of the king. This 
has also a marble fountain in the centre, and two bath-rooms adjoining. 
Above, in a circular tour, is the Queen's boudoir, the windows of which, 
overlook " the Queen's gar- 
dens." 

Here, everything was 
once loveliness . An inscrip- 
tion says, " Where is there 
a garden like unto this? 
Its verdure and its fra- 
grance exceed all others, 
and its freshness is scat- 
tered all around . The beauty 
and excellence that are in 
me proceed from Moham- 
med ! His goodness sur- 
passed all things past, and 
all that are to come . Among 
five stars, three turn pale 
beside his superior bright- 
ness. The marble softens at 
his voice, and the light of 
his eyes scatters darkness." 

The palace of Generalife 
is one of the most magnifi- 
cent on the grounds of the 

Alhambra. It is a palace of waters. The Darro, on its way from the 
summits of the Sierra Nevada, boils through the court under evergreen 
arches, murmurs and dances, and whirls around in marble basins at the 
foot of each staircase, is carried to the topmost rooms, where it throws out 
delicious coolness in the hot days of summer, and then passes down 
through hollow balusters on either hand from top- to bottom. 

In this palace is another curious inscription, on the arcades of the court, 
showing the thoughts that hovered in the minds of these luxury-loving 
Moors. " Charming palace ! splendid art thou, and great as thou art splen- 




332 



Persons and Places in Europe. 



did ! Worthy art thou to be praised, for divinity is in all thy charms. 
Flowers adorn thy gardens. They nod upon their stalks and fill the air 
with their sweet perfume. A breeze plays with the blossoms of the orange 
trees, and their delightful fragrance is wafted all around. Hark! music 
mingles with the gentle rustling of the leaves. Sweet Harmony ! Verdure 
and flowers encompass me." 

The Escurial.— In one of the most desolate spots in Spain, on the barren 
slopes of the Gaudarama, northwest from Madrid, stands a palace which is 
the exact opposite of the light, airy and beautiful palace of the Moors. 
This is the dark, gloomy Escurial, built by the sullen Philip II., in memory 
of a saint who died a horrible death on a gridiron. He whose very name 
calls up " blood councils," the rack and the stake could scarcely have left 
a more appropriate monument, He who caused eighteen thousand persons 
to be beheaded, who never laughed so heartily as when he heard of the mas- 
sacre of St. Bartholomew, was probably the only king to whose mind would 
have come the thought of building his palace in the shape of an instrument 
of torture on which a saint was roasted to death. 

In the handle of this gridiron this strange architect placed his royal 
palace; the legs, supposing the gridiron to be inverted, he had marked by 
four great towers ; the grate by seventeen granite buildings, crossing each 
other at right angles. In the center, to represent the body of the saint, 
was placed a church, the grandest building in the inclosure. It is built in 
imitation of St. Peter's at Rome ; contains forty chapels, each with its al- 
tars and one grand altar of jasper and gilded bronze; porphyry and marbles 
of the richest description incrust the walls. No expense was saved in en- 
riching this, the chief feature of the Escurial. 

Directly beneath the grand altar, so that the host might be raised directly 
oyer the dead, was placed a mausoleum for the reception of the future 
kings of Spain. And here they have since been laid in solemn black marble 
niches, all the sovereigns of Spain from Charles V. down to the present 
time. 

On each side of the church was an oratory used by the roval family 
when they attended mass. In the one on the 'left, which communicated 
directly with the palace, Philip II. breathed his last, Sept. 13, 1598, aged 
seventy-two. He desired to die there where his last glance might be directed 
toward the altar. 

The last days of this poor fanatical monarch were sad indeed. His body 
was racked with dreadful pain and his mind was haunted with doubt as to 



Spain. 

whether after all his wholesale slaughter of heretics were not crimes 

>f virtues. 

The different build- 
ng s of the Escurial, 
resides the church pal- 
ice, consist of a mon- 
astery with two hun- 
dred cells, two colleges, 
three chapterhouses, 
three libraries, five 
great halls, six dormi- 
tories, three hospital 
halls, twenty -seven 
other halls, nine refec- 
tories, five infirmaries, 
a countless number of 
apartments for attend- 
ants, besides fourteen 
gates and eighty-six 
fountains. The whole 
edifice is built of white 
stone spotted with 
grey, and from its 
great size, presents a 
most imposing appear- 
ance. 

For twenty-one 
years Philip watched 
the workmen raising 
and embelishing this 
great structure, — the 
largest palace in Eu- 
rope. Cases filled with 
all that was rich and 
rare, — pictures, statu- 
ary and bronzes from 
Italy, tapestry from 



333 

instead 

■ 




THE HALL OF THE ABENCERRAGES. 



Italv, tapestry irom _ _ , -„,.,. 

the Netherlands, plate from Nuremburg and Milan. But what Philip 



334 Persons and Places in Europe. 

considered most precious of all, saintly relics from many a distant 
shrine were constantly arriving. A Relicario, just off from the church 
was fitted up for these sacred relics, and when the collection was com- 
pleted it contained eleven whole bodies of dead saints, three hundred 
heads, six hundred odd legs and arms, three hundred and forty-six 
veins and arteries, and fourteen other bits of humanity, such as teeth, 
toes, fingers, and hair, all supposed to be possessed of miraculous healing 
power. Greatest of all were the bones of San Lorenzo himself and a bar of 
the very gridiron on which he was roasted. But most wonderful of all was 
a quill from Gabriel' swing; " a most glorious specimen of celestial plumage, 
full three feet long of a blueish hue, more soft and delicate than the lovliest 
rose.' 

All of these were kept in the most costly cases, and in shrines of silver 
ornamented with precious jewels, and there was a full length statue of San 
Lorenzo in solid silver. 

Strange to relate the very enemy which Philip was fighting when he 
became terror-stricken and vowed to build this memorial building if he were 
spared, broke into the Escurial a few years ago and seized all the silver and 
gold and jewels in the Relicario. They dunked the bones from out the 
cases in a pile upon the floor and melted up the silver statue of the saint 
that the metal might be more easily carried. 

But this was not the only misfortune that has visited the Escurial. 
Before it was finished it was struck by lightning in various places, and a 
crowd of workmen were organized into a fire brigade with the Duke of Alva 
at the head, to put out the flames. Four times afterwards it was struck by 
lightning, and three times great fires broke out which nearly consumed it. 
The great library was twice nearly destroyed by fire, and a large portion of 
its contents were lost by the depredations of the French. 

"The Invincible Armada."— The whole life, reign, and character of 
Philip II. can be summed up in the word failure. He set his heart upon 
up-rooting heresy in the Netherlands, inflicting upon those unfortunate peo- 
ple all the cruelties that his sullen mind and his great power could bring to 
bear. But he failed utterly in accomplishing his desire. 

His magnificent palace, which cost millions of dollars, and from which he 
boasted that with a piece of paper he could rule the world, is a failure. It 
is altogether too solemn and dreary, and too far away from the bright 
world to suit his royal successors, and to-day it stands empty and desolate. 

The religion he sought to clinch by fire and sword upon his people, has 



Spain. 



335 



failed to hold their respect, 
iand civil funerals take place 



Everywhere in Spain to-day c marriages 
No religious ceremonies are allowed on such 
occasions by-many of the people. The men say they have risen above such 
" superstition," but most of the women are devoted yet to the church. They 
bestow as much as their circumstances allow upon the poor priest, who has 
no longer a salary set apart by the government, nor a good congregation to 

sustain him. n . ... . , 

One of Philip's most gigantic failures was that of the Invincible Armada, 




COURT OF BLESSING, ALHAMBRA 



the great fleet of ships that he fitted out and sent to England to humble the 

^g^rh""^ protector of the Protestants JaljJ. 
out of Spain and the Netherlands, and Francis II drove out f France. 
To conauer England would be to stab Protestamsm to its very heart. 

Km that Elizabeth had killed her Catholic cousin, Ma^ ^ueen o 
Scots. She was denounced as a murderous heretic whom it would be a virtue 



336 Persons and Places in Europe. 

to put to death. The Pope promised to contribute a large sum toward the 
expenses of a war against the Queen of England, and Philip began to prepare 
for it. He taxed the resources of his great empire to their utmost. In the 
seaports of the Mediterranean, and along almost the entire coast from Gibral- 
tar to Jutland, busy ship-builders put together the vessels of a vast Armada 
for the war. 

On the 19th of May, 1588, the " most fortunate and invincible Armada," 
as the Spaniards called it, was ready. One hundred and thirty ships, carry- 
ing over two thousand guns and thirty thousand soldiers, set sail from 
Tagus. In very stately grandure these great vessels sailed toward the 
English coast, looking "like castles with lofty turrets," spreading out over 
a space of seven miles as they slowly sailed along. 

On the 20th of July, the great fleet came in sight of the English who 
were watching for them in the channel, every sailor anxious to do good ser- 
vice for his Queen and his country. 

They let the whole fleet pass by and then began to give chase. In their 
small fast sailing vessels they could dart up to the great ones, give a blow 
and be away again before the Spanish ships would turn around. 

Off Calais the Aimada stopped and cast anchor with their guns turned 
menacingly in front thinking the English would not dare attack them while 
they waited for their leader, the Duke of Parma, to join them from the 
Netherlands. 

On the second night of their stay the English admiral took eight of his 
poorest vessels, besmeared them with pitch rosin and wild fire, filled them 
with brimstone and other combustible matter, towed them down the channel, 
and then setting them on fire, sent them sailing down the wind toward the 
great fleet. 

At once there was a great panic among the Spaniards^ and, slipping their 
cables they stood pellmell out to sea. Then the little English vessels fairly 
swarmed among them, dealing broadsides into every great hulk. The Span- 
iards soon gave up all hope of overcoming their agile foes, and thought 
only of escape. But at the straits a south wind blew them back again in 
the midst of their tormenting foes. 

Their only hope now, the commander thought, was to press up through 
the North Sea and round the coast of Scotland,— a movement that the Eng- 
lish saw with much satisfaction, for well they knew the terrors of that stormy 
rock-bound coast. After chasing them for a little way the English left them 
in the hands of the stormy winds and the cruel mercy of the waves. These 




BULL FIGHTING. 






338 Persons and Places in Europe. 

proved to be far worse enemies than the English. An nnnsually severe 
storm arose, followed by tremendous hurricanes that strewed the shore with 
Spanish wrecks. 

For weeks they were imprisoned and tossed about in the winds, short of 
water, food, and clothing ; nnused to the cold, and ignorant of the coast. 
Off Ireland seventeen ships went down with five thousand three hundred 
men on board. 

Fifty-four ships out of the one hundred and thirty, battered and cut t( 
pieces, the crews worn with sickness, hunger and cold, returned to Spain 
The English lost one small ship, and a hundred men. 

The People. — There is no more interesting people than the Spaniards 
and to see all their interesting traits, costumes, ways and manners, one 
must go through all parts of Spain, for in no two localities are the peopl 
quite alike. Each province is inhabited by a different race, each 
speaking a different dialect of the Spanish language. In character 
there is a great difference. One class is cold, proud and haughty; 
another warm-hearted, sunny and friendly; one industrious, another in- 
dolent. 

In the north, on both sides of the Pyrenees are the Basques, a race that 
has never yet been subdued. They have stoutly resisted Carthaginians, 
Romans, Goths, Franks and Saracens; have paid no taxes nor acknowledge 
any sovereign who did not agree to grant them their long used privileges. 
They will have no fortress within their territory ; the king when he enters 
it must leave behind all his soldiers, except a small escort ; and they elect 
their own governors to attend to their own affairs. 

AVhen allowed thus to live unmolested they are quiet and industrious, 
attend strictly to their work, never interfering with their neighbors, nor 
allowing anybody to interfere with them. Besides cultivating their land, 
they engage a great deal in whale-fishing, and they are brave and hardy 
sailors. They were the first to follow the whale to the Arctic Ocean and 
the first to bring cod from Newfoundland. They are very fond of sports 
and athletic games. Their national game is a kind of tennis generally 
played in an open space anwering to a village green, the church usually 
serving as a boundary for their balls . 

In appearance they are well-formed, strong and handsome, with black 
hair and eyes and dark rosy complexions. The women are beautiful and 
graceful, though engaged much of the time in men's work. All the 
Basques are very proud of their race and language, which it is thought is 



Spain. 



339 



that of the ancient Iberian. From their proud and courteous bearing they 
have often been called a nation of nobles. 

Yery different are the Spanish gypsies or " Gitanos," who live mostly in 
the south, especially Seville ; and from their wicked, thieving, degraded, 




NATIONAL DANCE. 

ways are considered worse than outcasts. They were thought once to be 
the very children of the Wicked One, and a law was passed for them to 
leave the country ; but they are still there and carry on their trade in tell- 
ing fortunes, singing and playing wild, melancholy airs on their guitars, 
and pilfering whenever they have a chance. 



840 Persons and Places in Europe. 

The Castilian has the name of being the proudest of all the Spanish 
races, and that too without so very much ground for pride. He is greatly 
opposed to work of any kind. His ease and his " honor," that is to have 
other people impressed with the idea of his importance, are the two things 
he cares most about. Sometimes, if compelled to do so, he will work, but 
only that he may gain means enough to be indolent for a long time after- 
ward, and if he can obtain this means, in any other way, high- way rob- 
bery, or something worse, his " honor " does not hold him above such busi- 
ness. He is very grave and dignified, and very proud of the name of Cas- 
tile. 

The Andalusian is a more pleasing character. He has also a high 
opinion of himself, but he has rather more reason for this than the Castilian. 
He has a country to be proud of; the sky of Andalusia is always serene, the 
air neither too cold nor too warm for continual comfort. Refreshing breezes 
blow continually from the Sierra Morena, and the soil yields an abundance 
of food without much labor. There is nothing in his surroundings to com- 
plain of, and he finds no cause of complaint with himself. He is kindly 
and light-hearted. " He likes to array his handsome figure in fine garments; 
he is never overweening nor unmannerly, for he is always anxious to show 
himself in the most pleasing light. He is obliging, courteous, considerate, 
talks with ease and elegance on entertaining subjects and surpasses the 
Frenchman himself in gallantry towards the ladies." 

But the most pleasing of all the Spaniards are the gentle, graceful, 
women. Kindly in manners ; modest and plain, but also elegant and artistic 
in dress ; and full of religious fervor, they have been models of grace and 
good-breeding ever since Queen Isabella won the world's admiration by 
these same virtues. They are not highly educated, but nature and custom 
has done so much for them that the want of education is scarcely felt. A 
young Spanish girl yet in her teens will receive guests and do all the hon- 
ors of the house, if her elders happen to be absent, with the ease and dignity 
of a court lady. 

There is only one thing to be said against the Spanish women. They 
share with the men a taste for the horrors of the bull-fight. They go in 
crowds to the plays de toros and wave their pretty fans with approval of 
the tortures inflicted upon the poor dumb brute. They have no pity for the 
noble horses ripped open by the horns of the infuriated bull, and rushing 
about the arena in terrible agony. They even express displeasure 
when the fight is not sufliciently furious and bloody, and shower 



Spain. 341 

smiles and honors upon the heartless men who engage in the unmanly 
business. 

The Double Picture.— In the field of Art, the Spaniards have a great 
representative in Murillo, the painter of Seville. His pictures, which 
were mostly on religious subjects, have won world-wide admiration. 

In the city of Madrid may be seen one of his works, called " the Double 
Picture," which has a touching history. 

It bears on one side the portrait of a beautiful lady painted in life size. 
She is young, dressed in the rich style of the Spanish senorita of the 17th 
century, and looks to be a lady of wealth and high station, as well as of 
great beauty. She is holding out her hand as if to greet a visitor, and 
seems to be speaking words of kindness. The face expresses perfect hap- 
piness, as if care, disappointment or trouble were entirely unknown. 

A notice in Spanish, tacked to the frame, tells the spectator to turn the 
picture, and having done so he sees upon the other side the same face but 
no longer glowing with life and beauty. It bears the hues of death, and is 
encased in a coffin. About it are the walls of the vault in which the coffin 
stands, dark and shining, but the horror is taken away from the picture by 
a brightness at the top. Clouds seem to be breaking away, and the shin- 
ing light of a heavenly world appears. Here and there are angel faces full 
of love and joy, as if beckoning the dead one to their blessed company. 

Both of these pictures represent a lovely Spanish lady to whom Murillo 
was to have been married. The living face he painted while she was appar- 
ently in the full bloom of health, but before it was finished, she told him 
of a fatal disease that had laid hold of her, and for which, there was no 
remedy. She asked him then, to promise that he would visit her tomb 
after she had been dead a month, and paint her as she then appeared, on 
the reverse of the living picture, and then to exhibit it in the most public 
place of Madrid, where all might see, and be impressed with the moral it 
would teach — one day possessed of all that makes life desirable, the next a 
poor, pale piece of clay. 

Her wish was fulfilled. A month after her death the painter had the 
beautiful picture carried to her .tomb and there he painted all one night. In 
the morning they found him fainting upon the cold floor, with the face of 
the dead reproduced upon the reverse of the picture. It was hung in a 
public place as she had requested and thousands who came to look at it 
went away with the warning in their hearts. But it had not then received 
the upper scene. Forty years afterward when the painter had gained great 



342 



Persons and Places in Europe. 



renown he again visited the house where the painting was kept, and there 
put on the finishing touches which took away the horrors of death and 
pointed to a better life to come, while the solemn warning remained the 
same. 




STATUE OF PHILIP IV., MADRID. 



CHAPTER XV. 

PORTUGAL. 

The natural features of Portugal are like those of Spain. It has the 
same general formation. Its mountain chains and rivers are but a continua- 
tion of those of its larger neighbor. There are no natural boundaries ; only 
a difference in race make two nations of this Iberian Peninsula, instead of 

Portugal has been called an out-of-the-way corner of Europe, because it 
is not so much visited by travelers as the other countries ; but it has many 
attractions. The scenery in some places is very fine, especially along the 
soutlern extremity of the Sierra Estrella, between the Tagus and the Atlan- 
tic A favorite resort of the wealthy Portugese, is the hills and town of 
Cintra the most beautiful spot in this vicinity, and many English residents 
have here handsome villas. Lord Byron laid the scene of the first part of 
" Childe Harold " in this place. # 

The Douro.— Two noble rivers escape from the mountain defiles ot 
Spain and hurry across Portugal to the Atlantic. One of these is the Ta- 
gus the longest river of the whole Iberian Peninsula, which broadens out 
as it approaches the ocean until it reaches a width of eight miles above 
Lisbon ; here it contracts again and flows through a narrow channel into the 
sea Nearly all of its course is through dry and barren plains, between 
rugged and precipitous banks. The other is the Douro, upon whose bor- 
ders are the famous vineyards of Oporto. Every year it carries tons ol Port 
wine down to the seaport in flat-bottomed boats. This river is naviga- 
ble further than the Tagus, but the vessels that venture upon it are liable 
to be swamped with sudden freshets. Every rain-fall is sent down its steep 
banks in torrents, causing a rapid rise in the river. 

In early spring, when the snows are melting rapidly from the mountains, 
the Douro becomes wild in its grandeur. In a few hours the clear current 
flowing sluggishly along, is changed to a mighty roaring torrent ot turbid, 



344 Persons and Places in Europe. 

foaming waves, sweeping in its irresistible force, buildings and cattle, 
human beings and their frail barks to destruction. At such times the 
water rises from twenty to thirty feet between its lofty and confined banks, 
filling the houses in the lower part of the city, and tearing vessels from 
their moorings. The tumultuous yellow tides bear in their vast, whirling 
eddies, whole trunks of trees tossed up and down, and round and round 
like straws. One moment the leafless branches appear lifted high out of 
the water, the next, the huge roots. The giddy, rapid whirl of the waters, 
makes the brain reel, and the thunder of their loud, angry roar, stuns ones 
ears . 

But the most terrific conflict goes on at the river's mouth. Here the 
fierce waters meet the stormy, incoming ocean billows, and both are tossed 
high in the air, looking like two enraged horses of the desert, with their 
flowing manes tossed wildly about. But the river triumphs, and its yel- 
low tide is seen reaching far out into the sea, before it mixes with the clear 
waters of the wide ocean. 

Lntes de Castro. — Half-way between the Douro and the Tagus, is a 
small river which flows past the famous town of Coimbra, for a long time 
the capital of Portugal. A short distance from the town, on the opposite 
bank of the river, is the Quinta de Lagrimas, or "Garden of Tears," 
so named because of the sad fate that here befell the beautiful Ines de 
Castro. 

Dom Pedro, son of Alfonso IV., knowing that his father would oppose 
taking this young Castilian into the royal family, contracted with her a 
secret marriage, and it was some time before his father found it out. 
When he did, he determined that Ines should die. Three assassins were 
sent to murder her one day when Prince Pedro was out hunting. When 
he returned and found the bleeding corpse of his wife, he was nearly fran- 
tic with grief and rage. The strongest pleas of his mother and the arch- 
bishop were hardly sufficient to keep him from taking revenge upon his 
father. 

Two years afterward the king died, and Dom Pedro succeeded to the 
throne. Then his grief broke out afresh, and seizing two of the assassins, 
he had them put to death with terrible tortures. The other escaped into 
Aragon. He then ordered the corpse of his wife to be taken out of her 
grave, dressed in royal robes, and placed beside him on the throne, while 
all the officers and dignitaries of the court saluted her as queen, and kissed 
the hem of her robe. The poor skeleton was then carried with great pomp 



Portugal. 34 ^ 

to Alcobaca for burial; the king, the bishops and all the lords and officers 
of the court following the procession all of the sixty miles on foot. 

A number of poems and plays have been founded on this story of Ines 
and the grief-stricken king. Camoens, the most noted of the Portugese 
writers, has told it in a very fascinating way, in his famous drama of 

U T -ii oi n/i ' ' 

The Battle of Ourique.— Portugal did not become a kingdom until 
about the middle of the twelfth century. Before that time the northern 
part was held by the kings of Castile, the southern part by the Moors. In 
the year 1139 Alfonso Henriquez, who then bore the title of Count of Portu- 
gal collected a band of troops and began a march upon the Moors. From 
every farm and homestead as he passed, horse and foot soldiers joined his 
ranks, as in duty bound in those feudal times, until he had a large and 

valiant force. 

Instead of passing through the wilderness of Estremadura, the usual route 
of the Christian princes when they went to make war on the Moors, he 
turned to the east, struck the Tagus in its upper waters, and passed through 
the rich plain of Almentezo, thus putting himself at once into the very heart 
of the Saracen's country. 

Up to this time the warfare between the Christians and the Moors had 
been only a series of raids; now they were to meet in open battle. History 
has left no account of this struggle— only that Alfonso won a great victory 
and went back laden with valuable spoils in slaves, in arms and armour, and 
in fine Arabian war-horses, and with the title of " King of Portugal." 

Some say that on the field of battle he threw off his allegiance to the 
King of Castile and Leon and declared himself king; others that he wrote first 
to the Pope for permission to do so, and the Pope, in consideration of his 
great services against the Moors, granted his request. At any rate the Por- 
tugese date the commencement of their kingdom from the battle of Ounque. 

The Capture of Lisbon.— While King Alfonso was carrying on his 
warfare against the Moors, the second Crusade was being fitted out for the 
holy land by the European princes. The English, Dutch and North German 
Crusaders were going this time by water instead of by the long overland 
route, and the foremost of the fleets, that from England, stopped at Oporto 
to wait for their German companions . Here a messenger from King Alfonso 
met them, asking them to join with him in taking Lisbon from the Moors. 
As this was the same kind of work upon which they were going to engaged- 
fighting against the Mohammedans— the Crusaders consented, and, proceed- 



346 Persons and Places in Europe. 

ing to Lisbon, they joined forces with Alfonso and began the seige of the 
city. 

They bnilt a great movable castle on wheels, capable of holding a hun- 
dred men. Fifty English and fifty Portugese soldiers mounted it, and were 
rolled up to the walls. In vain the Saracens hurled showers of stones and 
darts upon the great moving tower. Slowly and surely it came nearer and 
nearer to the walls of the city. When within a yard of the parapet a draw- 
bridge was let down, and just as the English and Portugese were about to 
cross over into the town, the Saracens surrendered. 

One pleasant feature of this conquest was that contrary to the usual 
course in those savage times, the Moors were neither put to the sword, en 
slaved, nor made to change their religion. They continued to live in the city 
under a charter granted by King Alfonso, elected their own judges and were 
not subject to severe taxation. 

The Relief of Santarem. — The last time King Alfonso engaged with 
the Moors was in his old age. He had given up leading his men to war; 
had appointed his son Sancho to the command of his armies, and devoted 
himself to the affairs of his government. Meanwhile the Moors had made 
a grand effort to gain back their lost ground. They had gathered around 
the standard of a dashing young leader, and crossing the Tagus, a vast 
multitude had assembled on the rich plain around Santarem, where young 
Sancho was beseiged. This was the most threatening time Portugal had 
ever seen. It seemed impossible that the few Christian warriors could with- 
stand this great horde of Saracens. 

Sancho made a desperate resistance, but the Saracens used their arts of 
beseiging well, and it was plain to all within the garrison that they could 
hold out but a few hours longer. Suddenly, from the tower of Santarem, 
the hard pressed garrison saw to the north a troop of cavalry rapidly 
approaching. Presently they could distinguish the pennons and banners of 
Christian knights, and then as the troops galloped nearer they saw riding 
at their head the well-known form of their old King. With wild shouts of 
Sanctiago, the familiar battle cry of the old warrior and his knights, the 
garrison flew out of the gates and together they fell upon the host of Sara- 
cens. Panic stricken by the sudden appearance of the old King, and the 
triumphant shouts of the garrison the beseigers were soon pui to flight. 
Their dashing leader was slain and his armies chased far beyond the Tagus. 

Portugese Navigators. — Within two hundred years from the battle of 
Ourique the Portugese had become one of the most enlightened and enter- 



Portugal. 347 

prising nations of Europe . In geographical knowledge and navigation they 
exceeded all others. The son of King John I. has always been known as 
Prince Henry the Navigator, because of the start he gave to navigation and 
geographical discovery. He set up an observatory at Sagres, on Cape St. 
Vincent, and established there a school for the study of these sciences, and 
was the first European to use the sailor's compass. One of his most distin- 
guished pupils was an Italian, whose daughter became the wife of Columbus, 
and the papers of his father-in-law, falling into the hands of the young 
Genoese, greatly aided in forming his opinion of the shape of the earth. 

Until the time of Prince Henry the Navigator Europeans had supposed 
that Cape Nun, on the southern boundary of Morocco, was the furthest 
extent of the land in that direction, but he concluded from his studies that 
there was more beyond, and determined to brave the terrors of the dreaded 
hot regions for the sake of the valuable discoveries which he believed could 
there be made. He soon proved that there was land beyond Cape Nun, and 
then found Cape Bogador, which was thought to be surely the furthest south- 
ern point. But still Prince Henry's navigators went on until they had gone 
as far as Sierra Leone. By this time the people, who at first complained at 
the amount of money spent in fitting out exploring expeditions, began to 
see gold pouring in from the newly discovered lands. Then they grew 
enthusiastic over the triumphs of their great navigator and readily prepared 
for further search. 

Three years after Columbus discovered the New World for the King and 
Queen of Spain, Emanual the Fortunate, or the Great, came to the throne 
of Portugal, and began to carry on with great vigor further explorations of 
the African coast. One of his navigators reached the Cape of Good Hope, 
and drifting around it in a storm, was surprised to find himself upon the 
eastern coast. Then the King sent Vasca de Gama to carry the search still 
further and try to find a way to India. _ 

De Gama was gone a little more than two years,'and many hours during 
that time King Emanual spent in watching for his return from the convent 
of Pera It is said that he was rewarded by being the first to spy the re- 
turningship. He gave De Gama a splendid reception at Lisbon,and bestowed 
on him'the title of "lord of the conquest of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia and 

T~nri 1 5} 

Another Portugese voyager discovered Brazil, and all of that great coun- 
try larger than the whole of Europe, came into the possession of Portugal. 
A thriving trade now sprang up with India, carried on by the Portu- 



348 Persons and Places in Europe. 

gese sailors, and gold rolled into the little country from all these new 
regions. 

It is interesting to know that the wife of this King, who devoted his re- 
sources so earnestly to geographical discoveries, was the daughter of Isa- 
bella of Spain, who had just sent Columbus out to the New World. 

Dom Miguel.— As suddenly as Portugal arose to great prosperity so 
suddenly she fell into as great adversity. The results of her discoveries 
went to other nations, and even the throne had to be removed from Portu- 
gal to Brazil to keep it from falling into the hands of the French. 

Emanuel himself started the train of misfortunes by using large sums of 
his vast wealth in erecting magnificent buildings, by driving out the Jews, 
the most prosperous of his subjects, and by setting up the Inquisition. 
After him came another king who wasted more money in carrying on use- 
less wars against the Moors, and finally lost his life, and that of all the 
principal men of his court in Barbary. Then Philip II. of Spain claimed 
the throne, and only by a long war were the Portugese able to free them- 
selves from Spanish rule. Then the English, who had befriended the Por- 
tugese, drew them into disastrous wars with the French which ended by 
the flight of the royal family to Brazil, while Napoleon's general raised the 
French flag over Lisbon and declared that the house of Braganzahad ceased 
to reign. But the Duke of AVellington came and drove out the French and 
the king was recalled. 

Soon after his return he died, leaving the throne to his son, who was 
then reigning in Brazil. Dom Pedro preferred to stay in the New World 
and gave the old country to his seven-year old daughter, " Dona Maria de 
Gloria," arranging for her a marriage with her uncle, his brother Miguel. 
This man went to Portugal to act as regent for his niece and future wife, 
until she should be of age, but as soon as he obtained the reigns of govern- 
ment he made himself kino-. 

Then began the most cruel and tyrannical government that Portugal had 
ever known. Every one who had been known to favor the cause of Dona 
Maria, and every one belonging to the liberal party whose constitution he 
had sworn to observe, became the subjects of remorseless persecution. 
Thousands were thrown into jail and their property seized by the crown. 
Many more were sent into exile or obliged to fly to escape imprisonment. 
Thousands of Portugese who were shortly before in comfortable circum- 
stances were thus wandering homeless in different parts of Europe; or, if 
they dared, in their own land sheltered by their friends, but every morn- 



Portugal. 349 

ing waking with the expectation of being imprisoned before night. About 
twenty thousand more having been published as suspected persons were sub- 
iected to all manner of abuse or insult from the mob who cried for Miguel, that 
they might be left free to plunder. Three thousand more were sent as felons 
or soldiers to the unhealthful regions of Africa, where they were left to die. 
Besides these, a number of the chief leaders were led out every day to be 
huno- shot or strangled, their families and friends being obliged to go with 
them and witness their execution. One hundred thousand people, at the 
very least, were suddenly plunged into misery by this tyrant usurper Then 
relief came. Dom Pedro left Brazil and gathering an army fought for his 
daughter's claim. The people gladly forsook the side of the tyrant and he 
was obliged to give up the throne. ,.,,,. 

The Eaethquake at LiSBON.-One of the greatest calamities that betel 
Portugal was the terrible earthquake at Lisbon in 1755, that destroyed sixty 
thousand lives in about six minutes. The morning of the fatal day, Nov. 1, 
opened upon Lisbon fair and bright, as most autumn days m Portugal. I he 
people had gathered in churches to celebrate the day of All Saints, when 
suddenly, about ten o'clock a slight tremor of the earth was noticed, but 
was supposed to be only the effect of a passing wagon. Then the trem- 
ulous motion came again, and increased until the whole surface oi the 
earth seemed to shake like the sea. The steeples staggered so that the 
bells rung. Tiles came tumbling down from the roofs of the houses. Fur- 
niture was thrown down, walls began to split, and buildings to fall. All the 
while a loud rumbling noise, like distant thunder came from the depths ot 
the quivering earth. Fissures opened in the earth, and from them terrible 
sulphurous vapors arose and mingled with the dust of the falling buildings, 
so darkening the bright day that it seemed suddenly turned into night. As 
soon as this was settled a little, it was noticed that the waters of the Tagus 
had suddenly sunken lower than they had ever been seen at lowest tides. 
Suddenly in a mountainous wave they returned and burst upon the city. 
Ships, boats and magnificent quays, just constructed at great expense, were 
swallowed up, and with them thousands of people who had sought safety on 
or near the water. Others were overwhelmed by the falling buildings. 
Monks and nuns were buried alive by hundreds in their convents. 

The first shock lasted, with occasional intervals of less intensity, for about 
seven minutes, and in about twenty minutes the full measure of the calam- 
ity had fallen. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



ITALY. 



No country in the world lias received so much praise as " Sunny Italy.' 
It has been called the " Garden of the Continent" and the " Cradle of Art.' 
Its skies are said to be the bluest, its sun- 
sets the loveliest, its airs the softest of any 
known land. It was once the throne of the 
Mistress of the world ; and it is yet the 
store-house of the most wonderful works 
of art. 

The Alps abtd the ALPEisrisriisrEs. — Italy 
has a double portion of the beautiful AljDine 
regions, sharing with both Switzerland and 
France the higher border ranges ; and, a 
few years ago, before Savoy fell to the 
French, Italy had sole possession of the 
starting point of all the ranges of Europe, — 
Mont Blanc. 

As all roads are said to lead to Rome, 
so all the mountain ranges of Europe may 
be said to lead toward Mont Blanc. From 
Cape Finisterre, off the coast of Spain, 
comes the Pyrenees, cut off in their course 
by the Gulf of Genoa, but yet sending a 
spur off toward their king. From far away 
Roumania comes the zigzag, wilful Carpa- 
thians, on a long, reluctant course, but com- 
pelled at last to join the train of courtiers 
on the corner of Switzerland. From the 
Bosphorus, and from Cape Matapan, come 
two other subjects, the Balkan and the Pindus, uniting into the Dinaric train 




PEASANT CHILDREN. 




SISTINE CHAPEL, 



352 Persons and Places in Europe. 

at Montenegro and joining with the Carpathians in the towering procession 
on the south, of Switzerland. And from the toe of the Italian boot comes the 
Apennines in many graceful, waving curves, sweeping round the plain of 
Piedmont, and towering up into the majestic heights of the Maratime Alps 
the palace of the mountain king. 

Of all his subjects, Mont Blanc can boast of none more graceful in outline, 
more beautiful in detail, or more interesting as the scenes of noted events 
than this last in his train— the Apennines. Only a few bare rocks crop out 
above its rich coat of vegetation throughout its entire course. Forests of 
pine, oak and chestnut are ranged beneath each other from the summit 
down to the valleys, and there the fig and olive flourish. From east to west 
branches shoot off from the central range and hang in impending cliffs over 
the sea. Between them are valleys so deep and dark that the people live 
m little worlds of their own, in utter ignorance of what takes place beyond 
the heights that bound their home-regions. 

From the western slopes of the Apennines, overlooking the gulf of Genoa 
were quarried the beautiful pale blue marbles of Carrara, from which 
Michael Angelo made his wonderful statues. 

From the opposite side course down to the Adriatic the famous Rubicon 
where Caesar made his great decision. 

The Arno and the Tiber.— From out the wildest passes of the north- 
ern Apennines pours the Arno, one of the three principal rivers of Italy un- 
decided among so many pleasant fields which to choose for its path to the 
sea. After a course of sixty miles it returns again to within eleven of its 
source, and then strikes out in a new direction toward the Gulf of Genoa 
through a new series of beautiful valleys. 

Twenty miles south of the Arno, and still among the same wild glens 
the Tiber takes its rise, to flow, first, a mountain torrent along the base of 
the Apennines, and then, as it gathers strength, to wind its way to the sea 
through mountain passes and narrow valleys, receiving as it runs the waters 
of countless streams and torrents from east and west and north and south ■ 
while the meadows which draw their freshness from its rising waters are 
followed by the waving grain and tresselled vine, With towns and castles 
scattered along its banks it sweeps down, turning around the base of Soracte 
and comes out upon the broad Campagna, the great plain that surrounds 
Koine. 

There it flows along on the borders of ancient Etruria, whose people built' 
flourishing cities, sailed powerful fleets, and made highly ornamented vases 



Italy. 

and other wares before Eome was built. In after years these Etruscans were 
employed to furnish bronzes for the Roman temples. 

Opposite Etruria the Tiber washes the borders of the ancient Sabines, 
whose maidens were seizecl by the wifeless Roman colonists soon after the 
city was founded. A little further down it reaches the boundary of old 
Latium, the fatherland of the Roman race and language. 

Receiving here its last tributary, the headlong Anio, the Tiber rolls in a 




GENOA. 



great flood through the Eternal city that for six hundred years swayed the 
scepter of the world ; then onward to the fork of the Sacred Island, where 
it pours out its yellow flood, colored now by beds of clay along its lower 
course, and stains for miles around the deep blue of the Mediterranean. 

The Pontine Maeshes. — Nowhere in all Italy does, the grass wave 
more luxuriantly, or the trees put forth a lovelier green, than in the broad 
meadows of the Campagna di Roma. But as far as the eye can reach it 
detects nothing but pasture lands, or flocks of sheep and goats grazing on 
the gentle slopes with the solitary form of the shepherd in the midst. 



354 Persons and Places in Europe. 

Sometimes a rising ground is crowned with a little shady grove of Italian 
evergreen oak, but usually there is nothing but the treeless, sunlit Cam- 
pagna. No houses, no thriving villages, such as once dotted the great 
plain; but plenty of decaying ruins on every hand. A great change has 
taken place in the air that blows over the Campagna since the days of the 
old Romans. The breezes, once so bracing and healthful, are now laden 
with the germs of malaria during the summer months. Thirteen hundred 
people die in Rome every year during July an4 August from this terrible 
scourge, caused by the great amount of marshy land. 

Other parts of Italy suffer from malaria, — the rice grounds of Lombardy, 
the highlands near Padua, and, in southern Italy, Apulia, almost the entire 
coast of Calabria, and the south of Sicily. Only six out of Italy's sixty- 
nine provinces are free from the disease, and in twenty-one it exists in its 
worst form, producing fevers that end fatally in twenty-four hours. The 
Campagna is one of the worst districts, for in its southern part are the 
extensive Pontine Marshes, where stagnant water has been standing for' 
ages. These marshes are caused by several small streams which flow down 
from the Yolscian hills, and are kept from reaching the sea by the sand 
that has accumulated on the coast. 

When Julius Caesar became Dictator of Rome, one of the many im- 
provements he intended to make was the draining of the Pontine Marshes, , 
which had been partially accomplished a hundred years before; but he^ 
was assassinated before he could carry out his wise projects. Since his: 
time many other attempts have been made. In T577 Pope Pius VI. spent 
two millions of dollars uxoon the marshes ; in a short time they had gone 
back to their old condition. During the last few years quite successful 
work has been accomplished by planting the Eucalyptus tree, which sucks; 
up and thrives upon the stagnant water. 

Mount Vesuvius. — South of the Campagna of Rome is another broad 
plain called '-'■Campagna de Felice,'''' because here the air is always soft and 
cool, tempered by the most healthful sea breezes ; the scenery is rich and 
beautiful, with always a deep blue sky over head ; and the richest pro- 
ducts of the vegetable world abound on every side. The soil is so rich, 
and the climate so genial, that three crops can be raised in the same 
ground in a year. It is the garden of the garden land, Campania, the 
happy. 

All over this plain are the yawning mouths of old volcanoes, that dur- 
ing the long, dark ages of the past, threw out their ashes, lava and miner- 






Italy. 



als over the earth, preparing the soil for its fruitfulness. Pretty little 
lakes now nestle in some of these old craters ; from others, sulphurous 
vapors are yet ascending. The ancients used to call a part of this region 
"the Burning Field," because it contained so many volcanoes, and they 
really 'thought that the way to Hades was through these yawning mouths. 
The active member of this family of volcanoes is Mount Vesuvius, who 
has so startled the world with his ragings in recent years. During the last 




BRIDGE OF ST. ANGELO, AND THE BOB.GO. 

century he has broken out about every three or four years, and frequently 
sends out smoke and flame between times. When the people see none of 
these signs of life for several weeks, they begin to look for a severe erup- 
tion. 

There is no spectacle so terribly grand and fascinating as Mount Vesuvius 
when he is hurling out his internal fires. The people everywhere rush out 
of their houses to watch with breathless interest his tragical performances. 
He sends up great pillars of white smoke like heaps of clouds several times 1 , 
higher than his head. Into this he hurls stones and ashes with a force 



356 Persons and Places in Europe. 



\ 



that carries tliem up thousands of feet. Then columns of fire shoot up 
three times as high as the mountain itself. 

At times he seems to pause a little as if for breath, then with increased 
fury sends roaring volleys of blood-red stones and dazzling meteors. Into 
the deep black of the sky, made yet more black by dark masses of smoke, 
the brilliant stones are hurled, and, like fiery balls from a rocket, make 
a graceful curve, high in the air, then fall in showers of splendor around 
the sides of the cone. Presently, from over the edge of the crater comes 
the great red torrents of lava, like a huge, hissing, fiery snake crawling out 
of his lair to descend upon his victims. Its motion is very slow and steady, 
even where the descent is abrupt, and when near enough to it one can hear 
a rustling sound like that made by fragments of ice jostling each other in a 
half-frozen river. 

The Last Days of Pompeii. — At the beginning of the Christian Era, when 
Rome was at the height of her glory, when Nero, Vespasian and Titus were 
ruling the world according to their wills ; when Tacitus was delivering his 
polished orations, and the industrious Pliny was writing his books on His- 
tory, Natural History, Rhetoric, Education and Military Tactics — rising 
at midnight to study and listening to his readers while he ate his meals 
and took notes, — in these days, there nestled at the base of Mount Vesuvius 
the cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii. Both lay upon the edge of the 
beautiful bay of Naples, the former contained the elegant villas of the 
wealthy Romans, and the latter was a fashionable summer resort. No 
thought of danger disturbed the enjoyment of their luxuries and pleasures. 
Vesuvius up to this time had never been known to be in a state of eruption; 
though one observant Roman thought it had been active in the past. But 
no one thought of its breaking out again. It was overgrown with shrubs 
and vines ; and once, a few years before, in 72 B. C, Spartacus, the Thra- 
cian gladiator, had taken refuge in it with his band of slaves. 

In the year 63 A. D., two terrible earthquakes occurred, doing so mucn 
damage to both Pompeii and Herculaneum that Seneca, the philosopher, 
considered them unsafe. Other signs of disturbance followed, rumbling 
noises in the mountains, and vapors over the crater, but little attention was 
paid to them. On the 24th of August, 79 A. D., a cloud of such unusual 
size and shape appeared about the summit of Vesuvius that it attracted the 
attention of Pliny, who was stationed at Mfsenum, at the north entrance 
of the bay, in command of a fleet. Hurrying to a hill to get a better view, 
he saw that something unusual was about to occur, and ordered a light 
vessel to be made ready to take him nearer to the mountain. 



Italy. 



357 



With tablet in hand npon which to take down his observations, he sailed 
up close to the shore and dictated to his attendants a description of the 
scene as he observed it. He approached so near that showers of pomice stone, 
pieces .of burning rock and 
hot cinders rained down 
upon the ship, and the sea 
began to sink away from the 
coast so rapidly that his sea- 
men advised him to hurry 
away. 

He ordered his vessel to 
proceed to the little town of 
Stabise, on the southern 
shore of the bay, a short 
distance from Pompeii, but 
still within reach of the fall- 
ing cinders . Here he found 
his friend Pomponianus in 
great alarm, about to hurry 

away in his vessel. Pliny 

quieted his friend's fears, 

and to show that he was not 

alarmed, ordered a bath, ate 

a hearty dinner and lay 

down to sleep. 

But the court of the 

house was fast filling with 

cinders, and soon his friends 

aroused him, and with pil- 
lows on their heads to pro- 
tect themselves from the 

shower of falling stones, all 

hurried to the sea- shore. It 

was now day, but so dark 

that they could only see by 

the light of torches. When they reached the sea they found it raging so 

furiously that they could not hope to escape in their vessels. 

Terrible fumes of sulphur now began to suffocate the party. 




ERUPTION OF MOUNT VESUVIUS. 



Pliny, 



358 Persons and Places in Europe. 

thinking probably to escape them, lay down upon the sand by the sea while 
his friends hastened away. His slaves came and raised him. but they had 
no sooner done so than he fell back dead from suffocation. 

Meanwhile like terrible scenes were going on all around the bay. Tor- 
rents of hot mud were falling in continual streams covering everything. 
This continued for eight days, filling the cities to the roofs of the houses. 
Then storms of ashes and streams of lava finished the work of burying 
Herculaneum and Pompeii completely out of sight. 

Years passed by and all traces of the cities were lost, no one knew 
exactly where they had stood and in time another town was built above their 
grave. An aqueduct was carried directly over a part of Pompeii, without 
discovering what lay beneath. But one day, in digging a well, several pieces 
of statuary were discovered. The king of Naples at once ordered excava- 
tions on a large scale and ever since the work of unearthing these old cities 
has been going on. 

Very interesting are the discoveries made among these ruins. In some 
are the skeletons of the people who did not make their escape; but these are 
comparatively few. In one large building, apparently the barracks of troops, 
sixty four skeletons were found, supposed to be the soldiers on duty, who 
in true Roman fashion remained at their posts until death overtook them. 

The houses are just as the people left them, and show most plainly the 
manner of life, tastes, and even thoughts of the old Roman occupants . Those 
of the wealthy are adorned with the richest ornaments and works of art- 
pictures, bronzes, vases, mosaics, statuary and coins, all excellently pre- 
served. One of the statues that has excited the admiration of many artists, 
is that of a youth wearing a Phrygian cap, sitting in the most easy and life- 
like position, with his head leaning-on one hand, and his arm resting on his 
knee. 

The Bay of Naples.— In front of Mount Vesuvius, sweeping around in 
almost a semi-circle is the beautiful Bay of Naples. Behind it in the dis- 
tance appear the purple crests of the Apennines, at their feet the broad 
plain of Campagna Felice, from which, near the foreground, stands the tall 
cone of Vesuvius. Around it, like a vast amphitheater, rise the shores of 
the bay with the city of Naples upon its northern side, the buried ruins of 
Herculaneum and Pompeii on the east and Stabia3, where Pliny made his 
fatal visit upon the south, opposite Naples. The fate of its buried sisters 
seems^ to have no effect upon the prosperity of Naples, neither do the 
calamities that it has suffered from its nearness to the burning monster. 



In 1872, during an unusually severe eruption the city was covered _ with ^a 
shower of ashes and two hundred lives or more were lost. It is often 
shaken with violent earthquakes. But none of these can drive the people 
from their beautiful Naples. a +t,o «+ W pt* 

The city itself is not very lovely, the houses are shabby and the streets 
anything but clean. But the hills around it are covered and draped with 
the richest of verdure. The cactus stands blooming among groves of palm, 




THE GATE OF HERCULANEUM, AND PLACE OF TOMBS. 



orange, lemon and stone; fine villas, monasteries and houses on number 
less little eminences are linked together by chains of ™eyards orchards 
and gardens. And here " the Italian sun shines its brightest, the zephyrs 
blow their softest, the sea puts on its deepest blue and the mountains their 

most glorious purple." ' ., 

IscHiA.-Like two ornamental knobs upon the horns of the bay, are tne 
islands of Ischia and Capri. The former upon the nor thern ■ »™ °* * >* 
bay, once contained the most lively volcano of the whole Burning ^ Field, 
which extended in a chain of craters from here to Vesuvius. Since the latter 



360 Persons and Places in Europe. 

. v 

has broken out, Mount Eperneo on Ischia has been mostly silent, but hot 
springs and jets of gas and steam show that all is not quiet beneath. In 1883 a. 
terrible earthquake occurred here, just as the season for visitors was at its 
height, for Ischia is a very popular resort in summer for pleasure seekers 
and invalids. 

Many of the visitors were at the theatre when the shock occurred ; others 
in the music and reading rooms of the large hotels. In fifteen seconds the 
whole village of Casamicciola, the principal resort, was a heap of ruins. 
Those who were not crushed under the falling houses, or struck down by 
flying fragments after gaining the streets, rushed in terror to the beach and 
seizing every boat and floating thing sought safety on the water. 

In the theatre and hotels every light was put out ; blinding clouds of 
dust enveloped the whole village, and a most terrible deafening roar came 
from the bowels of the earth. Between two and three thousand people were 
killed, six hundred injured, and many thousands made homeless. But this 
is only one case out of hundreds that have occurred in volcanic Italy. 

Capri. — On the southern horn of the bay stands the little island of Capri, 
walled in by high cliffs crowned with vineyards and orange groves. This 
beautiful little island has long been a favorite resort for invalids. The 
Emperor Augustus spent some time here during his illness, not far from the 
year of 1 A. D. And Tiberius, his less worthy son-in-law, who succeeded 
him, came here to live, not for health but for pleasure, about the year 26, after 
issuing an order that the people should not disturb his retirement. Here 
he built elegant villas, the ruins of which may still be seen, and lived a life 
of debauchery for ten years. The control of the government he left in the 
hands of his wicked favorite Sejanus, and gave himself up to his pleasures; 
but they do not seem to have brought him so very much happiness after 
all. Pliny spoke of him as " the most wretched of men"; and in one of his 
own letters to the senate he says, " What to write to you or how to write I 
know not ; and what not to write may all the gods and goddesses torment 
me, more than I daily feel, if I do know." In his younger days he had been 
remarked for his fine form and handsome features, but now dissipation had 
covered his face with ugly blotches and his body was bent nearly double. 
No wonder that when he died (27 A. D.) the people shouted with delight and 
cried, "Tiberius to the Tiber." Capri became once more the resort of re- 
spectable people, who had been kept away by the royal guard lest they 
should disturb their emperor's revelry. 

One of the greatest curiosities about Capri is the famous " Blue Grotto" 



Italy. 



361 



in a steep cliff by the sea. Everything within this cave is intensely blue. 
The walls look like the deepest sky in summer. Blue clouds seem to be 
floating about overhead. The water at the bottom, and even one's clothing 
is all of the same indigo hue. A flight of steps, cut out of the rock, seem to 
be real sapphire stones. The water, besides being blue, has a silvery look 
that o-ives everything in it a very curious appearance. A man in a bathing 
suit plunges into it and straightway he looks like a moving statue. The 
whole place is strange, weird and unearthly. No one has ever been able 
to solve the mystery of its wonderful blueness. 




HOUSE OF GLAUCUS IN POMPEII. 

Mount Etna.— One interesting side of a volcano can not be seen at 
Mount Vesuvius. This is the inside of the terrible cauldron from which the 
fiery storms issue. The opening is so squarely in the middle of his sharp 
cone and the sides so abrupt that the only way to look down into his throat 
would be by going over it in a balloon. But at Mount Etna one can get a 
fine view of a volcanic crater. The opening is slanting so that from a 
certain point on the margin, one can see the whole great basin two miles 



362 Persons and Places in Europe. 

around like a lake of pure white smoke on the top of the cone. It is ever 
boiling over its shores, and tumbling cascades of vapor down the dismal 
steeps. Then when for a moment the wind blows a rift in this cloud of va- 
por the observer can see clear down into the deep black pit in the heart of 
the mountain. This is one of the most awful mountain views in the world, 
and it is made yet more startling by the contrast between the interior and 
surroundings. A bright summer sky above, a blue island-studded sea 
around, the white veil of vapor sailing gracefully above the crater, and the 
terrible yawning black abyss beneath. 

The view of the surrounding country from the top of Etna is one of the 
finest in the world. Three cornered Sicily is spread out like a map on an 
azure sea that fringes it with a beautiful girdle of white foam. On the 
northern corner is the rock from which the monster Charybdis was supposed 
to appear three times every day to gulp down his mouthful of water, and 
opposite sat the still more dreadful Scylla waiting to seize her six victims 
from each passing ship. Away to the north upon the Lipari Islands is a 
real monster of the present day — Stromboli, continually sending up tokens of 
his long unrest. In the opposite direction is little Malta, a hundred miles 
away looking like a mere speck on the blue Mediterranean. 

The Biography of the Po. — The surface of the earth in northern Italy 
has been less disturbed by volcanoes than the south, but here the work of 
other great forces can be traced. The history of the mighty movements that 
occurred here long before man began to write books, is all written in the 
great book of geology. 

" Once," says a man who has studied this book, "ages and ages ago 
there arose from out the waters on the earth's surface a lofty wall, running 
from east to west ; then another running from north to south, and these 
two joined, the northern end of the one to the western-end of the other, and 
formed a right angled corner. These two broad solid walls are the Alps. 
From the southern end of the second wall there started a third and smaller 
one running east and west for a time then starting off south-eastwards. 
This was the Apennines, which forms the back bone of Italy. Then came 
earthquakes and steam explosions and cataracts of rain, splintering the 
tops of the walls, and rolling their fragments into the valleys." 

As yet the frost had not come. When he came he made the glaciers, 
which brought down hosts of bowlders, great and small, from the crags and 
pinnacles, and the chips, fragments, and dust from his winter's work helped 
to fill up the bed of the sea that was inclosed within the walls until the lands 



Italy. 



363 



of Piedmont, and the plains of Lombardy were raised from out the 

water. 

The lakes of Como, Maggiore and La Garda were then mere fords opening 
into the sea like those of Norway. All the Alpine valleys were full to the 
brim of huge old glaciers. 

In those early times the Po flowed forth from the ice caverns of the giant 
glaciers, just as at the present day it does from their small descendants high 




BAY OF NAPLES. 

up among the inner Alps. No forests then clothed the rocky heights, all was 
white and barren, a waste of snow most dreary to look upon, had eyes been 
there to look. But not useless were these great glaciers, they were per- 
forming their appointed work,— scouping out lake basins, great and small, 
and grinding to powder the rocks in their path which carried into the great 
river were spread out in the valley to form the soil on which man, when all 
was ready, was to come and sow his crop. 



364 Persons and Places in Europe. 

What a mighty river the Po must then have been, and what a crashing 
of ice and bowlders there was during his spring floods. Stones, sand 
and mud rolled along the bottom or were scattered out across the plain 
as he overran his banks, or changed his course from one channel to 
another. 

But still the Po is a magnificent river. Its lakes and streams extend 
from the Maritime Alps to the gulf of Venice. It gathers in as it flows the 
tribute of every glacier, torrent and river within the great basin of upper 
Italy, and rolls the full tide of these congregated waters, charged thick 
with sediment, out into the distant Adriatic. And all along its course, where 
once the mighty glaciers stood, are now hundreds of beautiful valleys, begin- 
ning in the wilderness of mountain solitude and gradually softening as they 
expand, till their sunny slopes sink down into the plain amid vineyards and 
cornfields and meadows of loveliest green. 

And in the midst of their green slopes is another chapter of the Po's his- 
tory, which tells of the early animals that lived and died upon his banks . Here 
are vast cemeteries of rhinoceros, elephants, hippopotamus, mastodons and 
other huge animals. In one of the valleys they are so plentiful that the 
peasants enclosed their gardens with the leg and thigh bones of elephants. 
Within recent times great changes have taken place in the shape and size 
of the channel of the Po. The people have thoughtlessly stripped the Alps 
and Apennines of their timber, and the rain and melted snows having noth- 
ing to hold them back, sweep down the slopes tearing lose more and more 
of the soil each year, and carrying it down into the plain Here it keeps 
narrowing and filling up the channel, and each following flood the river is 
less able to carry away. The consequence is, it often overflows its banks, 
doing great damage. 

The Battle Ground. — It is a sad fact, says a historian, that the rich- 
est and fairest spots on the earth's surface are often those where the 
darkest deeds are committed ; where human blood is most freely spilled, 
and human rights most ruthlessly ignored. Few countries have been more 
blessed by the gifts of Nature, or more cursed by the strife of man, than 
the wide plain of Lombardy. It is a very garden of fertility, hedged in by 
the Alps and Apennines, watered by innumerable tributaries of the Po, 
and glittering with a thousand towns and villages, "like white sails upon 
a sea of verdure." But it has been for ages the battle-field of the. 
nations, from the time when Bellovesus, nearly six centuries before 
Christ, led his Celtic legions across the Alps, until the French and Aus- 



366 Persons and Places in Europe. 

trians fought their last battle, and Victor Emmanuel drove out the last foes 
of Italy. 

Romans and Cimbri; Goths and Romans ; Lombards and Franks ; Ger-. 
mans and Italians ; French, Spaniards and Swiss ; Austrians and French, 
have again and again faced each other in deadly strife upon these 
plains. 

On the 30th of July, 101 B. C, a desperate and bloody combat was 
fought at the western extremity of the Lombard plain, near Turin, between 
the Roman legions and hordes of Cimbrians. On one side were Marius and 
Catullus, the defenders of civilization, on the other, the champions of bar- 
barism. The Romans numbered only fifty thousand men, while the Cim- 
bric multitude extended in a vast square over many square miles. The front 
ranks of the Cambrians were covered with immense shields and joined to- 
gether by cords passing through the belts of the warriors to prevent their 
line from being broken. Besides this enormous mass of infantry, there 
were fifteen thousand cavalry, whose steel breast-plates white and glittering 
shields, and plumed helmets, made a striking spectacle as they rode forth 
into the plain. The heat of the weather and the clouds of dust raised by 
the shock of battle, fought for the Romans, who were trained to endurance, 
while their antagonists, bred in shady and frozen countries, proof against 
the severest cold, could not bear the heat of the Italian sun. In spite of 
this, however, they made a gallant resistance, and the strife was long and 
doubtful. But Rome triumphed. Bogorine, one of the bravest of the 
Cimbri, died sword in hand, and around him fell ninety thousand of his fol- 
lowers. Sixty thousand were taken prisoners, and many killed themselves 
in despair. 

Even the women made a desperate resistance. They stood behind the 
wagons, which formed the Cimbric camp, slaying those Avho fled, and at last, 
when they saw that all was lost, killed their children and themselves. 
This victory saved Italy from the barbarians, and gave Marius the title of 
"The Third Founder of Rome." 

In this same vicinity has lived a heroic band of people, who for six 
hundred years have been persecuted for their religious faith. These peo- 
ple — the Waldenses of Piedmont, like the Huguenots and Albigenese of 
France and the Moravians of Austria, have endured the bitter hatred of 
bigoted rulers and all the persecutions that misguided zeal could invent. 
As early as 1242 many of them were put to death ; in the fifteenth century 
the pope preached a crusade against them ; all through the sixteenth cen- 



Italy. 



367 



tury there was scarcely a stop in the persecutions. In 1655 a decree was- 
published ordering them to leave Piedmont in three days, and as they went 
they were set upon by the soldiers, every one of whom seemed to mven. a 
new form of torture for the fleeing fugitives. Men were hewn m pieces 
and women treated with all manner of cruelties. _ 

One commander more merciful than the others, gave up his command in 
disgust because he could not check the bloody deeds of his men All 
Europe was filled with horror. Cromwell and Milton, in England, used, one 
his pen the other his sword in behalf of the victims, and a treaty of peace 
was made, which lasted for a season. But in 1686, Louis XIV sent an 
army against the Waldenses. Ten thousand were imprisoned, and the val- 
lies were desolated by murders and battles. In October, about three 
thousand of the prisoners were released on condition that they would go 
at once into exile. No time was allowed for preparation; they must leave 
before night. Eighty-six of one company perished in the snow while go- 
ino- over the mountains in a storm— they were not allowed to wait until it 
was over One hundred and fifty of another died in a single night. 

In 1848 Charles Albert, the father of Victor Emmanuel, granted them 
full religious liberty, the first they had enjoyed in six hundred years. 

The Christian Martyrs.— It was when Rome had reached her widest 
extent when there was no more of the civilized world to be conquered, and 
while the temple of the god of war was closed 'for the first time m seven 
hundred years, that the central figure of history appeared. He who 
"rulethinthe kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever he will, had 
prepared the way for the coming of His Son. After the resurrection, the 
belief in the heavenly mission of Jesus of Nazareth spread with great 
rapidity The peaceful state of the world aided the zeal of the disciples, 
which together with the force of the truths they taught, gained converts 
by thousands. In less than two hundred years after the first church 
was founded, Tertullian, the son of a Roman centurion, declared that it 
the Christians were forced to emigrate, the empire would become a desert. 
And this growth was in the face of the fiercest opposition and persecu- 
tion By their stern words against the favorite gods of the Romans and 
their refusal to worship the emperors, they became the objects of general 
hatred, not only of the people but of the most powerful of the Csesars 
Nero ordered them to be crucified, covered with the skins of wild beasts and 
worried to death by dogs, thrown to lions and tigers in the amphitheatres, 
and gray-haired men to be forced to fight with trained gladiators. One 



368 Persons and Places in Europe. 

night he lighted Ms garden with burning Christians, whose clothes had been 
smeared with pitch and set on fire. 

Yet the Christians only multijDlied more rapidly. Their heroic behavior 
under the tortures put upon them won the admiration even of their enemies. 
One of the martyrs when brought before the tribunal and told to curse God, 
replied " Eighty-six years have I served him and he has done me nothing 
but good ; how could I curse him V ' Amid the flames in which he was cast 
he thanked God that he was counted worthy to bear witness to the truth 
by his death. 

Such preaching make a deep impression upon the old idolators. For 
every martyr there sprang up scores of new converts, and in less than three 
hundred years the emperor of Rome himself became a Christian. From that 
time the cross appeared upon the banners and shields of the Roman army ; 
and fifteen years afterward (325 A. D.), Constantine declared Christianity 
to be the religion of the Roman Empire. 

The Fall of Rome. — For six hundred years Rome ruled the world 
(133 B. C. — 476 A. D.). Then her prosperity became so great that her rulers 
neglected to prepare for adversity. To the north and northeast was a great 
dark world of savages ready to spread out over all Europe; and in Ravena, 
a little city in the north of Italy, was the Emperor of Rome amusing him- 
self with his pet chickens. 

Presently, Alaric the Goth led his men through the pass of Thermopylae, 
ravaged Greece and moved upon Italy. Stilicho, a watchful Roman general, 
— for Rome had yet a good general, drove back the savages. But the weak 
emperor, growing jealous of this brave defender, had him put to death. 
When Alaric came again, not long after, he found no one to oppose him. 
The " Eternal City" with its palaces filled with gold and silver ornaments 
lay at his feet. 

At midnight the people of Rome were awakened by the Goth's trumpets, 
and told to open their gates. No Horatio was there then to defend them. 
They were thrown open, and for six days the barbarians held high revel. 
Then with their clumsy wagons heaped high with plunder they went out 
over the Appian way toward the south. 

When some one told the emperor, Honorius, that Rome was lost, lie 
replied, " That cannot be, for I just fed her a moment ago out of my hand." 
" Rome" was the name of one of his hens. 

About forty years after Alaric took his departure, Attila, the Hun, after 
his defeat at Chalons, appeared with his hords in Lombardy. To Yalen- 



Italy. 



369 



tinian III., who was then Emperor of Rome, he sent his ministers saying : 
" Attila, my lord and thy lord, commands thee to provide a palace for his 
1 immediate reception," and the Emperor of Rome dared not disobey. 

Attila helped himself to whatever he wished in Lombardy, stormed and 
sacked the principal cities, and made the others pay him tribute. 

When he took possession of the palace at Milan he was displeased to 
see there a picture which represented the Caesars seated on their thrones 
and the Princes of Scythia prostrate at their feet. So he commanded a 
painter to change the position of the figures making the emperors appear 
as humble supplicants, emptying their bags of gold at the feet of the Scy- 
thian king. 

Three years more, and then Gensaric, with his terrible Vandals, those 
that had laid waste Spain and passed over into Africa, sailed up the Medi- 
terranean and cast anchor in the Tiber. For fourteen days these pillagers 
ravaged the City of Rome. Not only its gold and silver were taken now, 
but its precious marbles, bronzes, and other works of art were ruthlessly 

destroyed . 

Twenty-live years afterwards the tiara and purple robe of the Caesars 
were sent to Constantinople, where an eastern branch of the Empire had 
been set up and Rome was no more. 

Foreign Rulers.— During the years of confusion that followed the fall 
of Rome, Italy became broken up into a number of separate provinces, in- 
habited by different races. In the north the Longobards (long-beards) 
founded Lombardy ; in the center, Theodore the Great set up a Gothic do- 
minion ; in the south the Arabs obtained a foothold. Afterwards came the 
Normans, and their leader Robert Guiscard began to rule in Rome ; the 
Franks conquered Lombardy, and then for a time Charlemagne ruled over 
the western empire which he had reunited. 

By this time the barbarians had become quite civilized , but just as the coun- 
try was ready for prosperity, a most unfortunate quarrel broke out between 
two parties, one called Guelphs and the other Ghibellines. These kept the 
land stirred up in civil strife for many years, and then, as always happens, 
neighboring kings came in and set up claims to the territory. The French, 
Spaniards and Austrians conquered and ruled over the most of Italy, from 
that time till 1870. And when they were not fighting the Italians, they were 
fighting each other, so the country was constantly overrun with foreign 
troops. 

Finally, when the French had set up their first republic, Napoleon came 



370 Persons and Places in Europe. 

into Italy to fight against the Austrians, avIio then held large portions of 
the country, and he promised to make the country free from one end to the 
other, but he ended by dividing it up and giving it to his friends and rela- 
tives. 

Then Archduke John of Austria, came, and knowing how well pleased 
the Italians had been with Napoleon's promise, he said, "Milanese, Tuscans, 
Venetians, Piedmontese, and all inhabitants of the Peninsula, — Do you 
wish to be Italians ? Do you wish for a constitution that will make the 
Italian lands prosper and keep aloof from you every foreign enemy ? If so, 
arm yourselves and fight against Napoleon." But when the war was over 
the Austrians drew the fetters about them tighter than ever. 

Then began to grow up a hatred of foreign rule, and a struggle for inde- 
pendence. 

The Carbonari.' — About the year 181.0, a number of those who were 
most anxious to see the foreign rulers overthrown gathered among the 
wildest recesses of the Apennines, and formed a society which they called 
Carbonari — the " Charcoal Burners." The name was chosen because 
charcoal was an emblem of purification, and Italy needed to be purified of 
her bad rulers. 

The place where they met was called the " baraca," the name given to a 
charcoal burner's hut ; the interior was called the " venditti," because here 
the collier always carried on the sale of his coals, and the surrounding 
country was called a forest. 

They used corresponding terms for all their operations and ceremonies, 
and everything connected witli them. A person who was to be received 
into the society was called a " pagan," and the most elaborate ceremonies 
attended his entrance. He was led blind-folded from the " closet of reflec- 
tion " to the door of the " baraca " by the " preparator," who there gave a 
mysterious rap. Inside a " courrier," hearing the knock, said to his assis- 
tant, " A pagan knocks for admission." The assistant repeated this to the 
chief door-keeper, and he in turn to the grand-master. 

" See who is the rash being who dares to trouble our sacred labors," 
said the grand-master. 

This was repeated back again from one to another, till it reached the 
first man inside the door. He asked the preparer outside, and the answer 
was " It is a man whom I have found wandering in the forest." 

" Ask his name, country and profession," commanded the grand-mas- 
ter when he had received the answer. This, like the others was passed 



Italy. 



371 



along, the replies returned and written down by the secretary. "Ask him 
his habitation," was the next command. Then, "Ask him what it is he seeks 
among us ?" 

" Light, and to become a member of the society," was the reply. 

"Let him enter," said the grand-master, and each official repeated it 
solemnly to the next, until it reached the door-keeper. The " pagan " was 
then led into the middle of the assembly, where he was again questioned. 




COLISEUM. 

" Mortal, the first virtues we require are frankness and courage," said the 
grand-master. " Do you feel that you are capable of practising both to the 
utmost? " 

If the answer to this and other questions was satisfactory, the master said 
"It is well. We will expose you to trials, in which you will find a mean- 
ing. Let him first make the journey." 

The candidate who was still blind-folded, was then led out of the baraca, 
and caused to journey through the forest. His attendant, following 



372 Persons and Places in Europe. 

silently at a distance. But the candidate thought himself lost in a tangle 
of trees and brushwood, where he heard torrents rushing close beside his 
path, and every kind of danger seemed to menace him. If he met all these 
bravely his keeper came to him at last and took him back to the baraca. 
The same preamble was gone through at the door, except that when he was 
again in the presence of the grand-master that person explained the mean- 
ing of the journey he had just taken. It was to show him that in the 
life before him he would meet with many dangers and difficulties, but he 
must overcome them if he would reach the goal. 

He then was told to take another journey, during which his bandage 
was suddenly removed for a. minute and he saw before him what seemed to 
be a human head just severed from the body. This was to show him what 
the society of the Carbonari did with traitors. 

He was then taken back, still blind-folded, and made to kneel on a white 
cloth and swear the most solemn oath to uphold the objects of the 
society, and willingly meet his death if he revealed its secrets. The mem- 
bers then formed a circle around him and the grand-master asked, "What 
do you desire, pagan ?" " Light," he replied. " It shall be granted you by 
the blows of my axe.'' 

The bandage was then removed and he saw himself surrounded by a 
circle of gleaming axes, which the grand-master assured him would surely 
put him to death if he violated his oath, but would just as surely be raised 
in his behalf should he continue faithful and ever stand in need of protec- 
tion or assistance. This was the society that sought to be rid of their 
enemies by secret assassinations, which the members were charged with 
accomplishing. But they did not succeed, though by thus banding to- 
gether they showed the strength there was in union, for the Carbonari 
grew to be a very large society. The whole population of many towns en- 
rolled themselves, and entire regiments most willingly joined. Magistrates 
were compelled to enter in order to obtain anything like obedience to + heir 
decrees, and all who were unprotected were glad to become members, m 
hope of support or assistance. But the Carbonari did not drive out the 
Austrians. 

Victor Emmanuel.— Charles Albert, king of Sardinia, which included 
besides the island of that name, Piedmont, Genoa, Savoy, and Nice, was 
the first Italian to come out boldly and propose to fight for freedom from 
foreign rules— " I am ready," he said," to give my life, and that of my sons, 
my arms, my treasure, everything I have, for the cause of Italy." 



Italy. 



373 



Such noble words brought out other patriots, and in 1848 he was ready 
to declare war on Austria. As his minister returned home from the ses- 




VICTOR EMMANUEL. 



sion at which this declaration had been passed, he was stopped by a young 
man, wrapped in a mantle, whom he did not at first recognize. 

" I came to beg you not to forget me when the companies are formed," 



374 Persons and Places in Europe. 

said the young prince. "Will I have a command? I beg you to speak of 
it to my father immediately." 

"His majesty intends giving a command to your Highness," replied the 
minister, as soon as the young man had thrown open his mantle and revealed 
his face. "Be sure the Duke of Savoy could not be forgotten." Victor 
Emmanuel, for this was he, shook the minister's hand heartily, wrapped 
himself again in his cloak and returned to the palace quite happy. This 
young prince had inherited his father's desire for the unity and independ- 
ence of Italy, and with it a love for warfare that had led him to leave the 
society of the court and devote his time to military studies. He was placed, 
therefore, at the head of a corps and took an important part in the battle 
that followed, but King Charles was defeated, the Italian cause lost, — at 
least for a time. 

That evening Charles Albert called his sons and his generals around 
him and said. "It is now eighteen years that I have done the utmost in 
my power for the good of my people. It is most painful to me to see my 
hopes crushed, not so much for myself as for my country. I have not as I 
would have wished, found death on the field of battle : perhaps my person 
is the sole obstacle to our obtaining fair terms with the enemy. As no fur- 
ther means remain to us of carrying on hostilities, I at this very moment 
give up my crown in favor of my son, Victor Emmanuel, in the hope that 
he may be able to come to a better agreement and procure the country an 
advantageous peace. Here is your king." 

The first words of the young king to his subjects were no less noble and 
inspiring than those of his patriotic father. 

" I will keep intact," said he "the institutions given by my father. I 
will hold high and firm the tri-colored flag, the symbol of Italian nationality 
which has been beaten now, but which will triumph one day." 

For ten years Victor Emmanuel devoted himself to the government of 
his kingdom and to preparing the way for the union of the whole country. 

Then he was ready to fight the war of Italian independence. It began in 
January 1859, and lasted five months. At Solferino on the 24th of June, the 
Italians, assisted by the French under Napoleon III., defeated the Austrians, 
and in the following February the liberator of his country was crowned 
King of Italy. 

The Plague in Milan. — Italy's misfortunes rank next to Ireland's 
wrongs. Overrun by barbarians and foreign troops, torn by civil strife, and 
held down by foreign powers, the victim of terrible volcanic eruptions, 



Italy. 



375 



of earthquakes, floods and malaria, she has still one other enemy in the 
shape of epidemic diseases. In the year 1347, the most terrible plague ever 
known in the history of the world, carried off two-thirds of her entire popu- 
lation and many times since the cholera and other contagious diseases have 
rao-ed 'with great violence. The cause of these is usually the filthy condition 
of & the cities, and their ignorance and superstition. But when good govern- 
ment has had a chance to raise the people above these, better things maybe 

expected for Italy. . 

The most terrible results of superstition, degredation and blind, ignorant 
rage was felt by the city of Milan during a terrible plague in 1628. A scant 
harvest, and the entrance of a plundering body of foreign troops brought on 
a famine The soldiers destroyed much, and the price of wheat shortly rose 
so that only the rich could buy. The city undertook to care for the poor, 
and put them all in lazzarettos where they could be fed and sheltered. But 
those who had the care of these places were wicked, and adulterated the 
food for their own profit. The place was also allowed to become filthy, and 
a contagion broke out; then in terror the whole mass of inmates were sent 
out, and they carried the disease all over the city. 

While in this condition of sickness and starvation a soldier entered the 
city was taken sick and died— with a terrible malignant plague. Every 
person in the house where he lodged sickened and died within a few days. 
For a time it was hoped that the disease had spread no further; but the 
hope was vain. There were fresh out-breaks and more deaths. 

The people in their terror refused to believe that it was the plague, and 
even attacked the doctors who had said it was, but they were soon obliged 
to believe the truth by the rapid spread of the disease. 

Then they turned with frenzy to seek for a cure. They paid no atten- 
tion to the doctors but sought relief in superstitious ceremonies. A former 
governor of the city in time of a pestilence had died, and for his wise 
measures had been cannonized. So it was decided to take Saint Charles up 
from his grave and carry him through the city in a solemn procession. The 
body of the saint they said would surely stay the plague. 

The doctors saw what would be the consequences of such a procession, 
and vainly sought to prevent it. Within three days everything was ready. 
Triumphal arches were raised, the streets were lined with tapestry and 
silk, emblems, and verses in gilt letters a foot high were to be seen on 
all sides. Altars were raised at every corner, and balconies were erected 
in front of the houses in which bands of music and singers were placed. 



376 Persons and Places in Europe. 

Houses were gaily decorated which were filled within with the dead and 
dying. 

When the day for the procession came, everybody that could crawl out 
of his bed joined the throng in the closely packed streets. For twelve 
hours the show lasted, and the result was just what the doctors had fore- 
told. Every person who joined the crowd was surrounded by the con- 
tagion on all sides and, of course, there was a terrible out-burst of fresh 
cases. Consternation seized the people to see that even the body of Saint 
Charles, which they kept exposed in the cathedral eight days longer, was 
not enough to turn aside the calamity. 

To make matters still worse, disorder and license broke out, and added 
greatly to the distress. A class of men called "monatti" were appointed 
by the authorities to go into the houses and take the sick to the lazzaretto 
and the dead to the pits outside the city. For this purpose they were 
given the right to enter any house, and being men of the lowest class, 
hardened by the scenes they passed through, if they were not before, they 
committed the grossest deeds. They compelled the people who were well 
to give them their money and valuables by threatening to take them to the 
fearful lazzaretto. Seeing the advantages these robbers were having, oth- 
ers put on the dress of the "moiiatti" and joined in plundering. 

To crown the horrors of the stricken city the mad idea broke out that 
the plague Avas caused by a poisonous ointment which evil-minded people 
put upon the walls of houses. It did not take long to find those who t30uld 
be accused of the crime, and they were taken before magistrates to be 
tortured and put to death. Every name that could be extorted from the 
suffering, crazy victims on the rack furnished a fresh accusation, and so the 
persecution went on, until a disease that might have been stopped in the 
beginning by proper measures, through ignorance and superstition nearly 
depopulated the whole city. 

The Medici. — Through all Italy's darkest hours there was one city 
where prosperity, commerce, pleasure, luxury, learning and the arts con- 
tinued uninterrupted. This was the city of Florence, which was ruled by 
the famous family of Medici. The first great head of this family, that 
came to have such a wide influence throughout Italy and Europe, was Gio- 
vanni de Medici, a successful merchant. He discovered a great secret of 
success in acquiring wealth and worldly influence, and when he was about 
to die he called his two sons to his bed-side and imparted it to them. He 
told them always to side with the multitude, this would bring them patron- 



Italy. 



377 



a „e , to avoid taking part in quarrels ; bnt to seek popularity with ail pa, 



ties 



3 - , t a «-f +1to fnmilv after Ms death, learned 




ST. PETERS AND THE VATICAN. 

m oney to needy citizens , put good »J J^SSKSJSJ 
paid off the debts ot those whose privilege of voting ™s taK in politics ; 
of them ; built up by his ^^£l™^lZ* diadvan- 
but ruined those opposed to him ^ ™= l H man Toted agalns t the 

Sci P^tStSfw^eS^ Plenty for others, it was not 



878 Persons and Places in ^Europe. 

for him ; his rivals in trade underbid him ; taxes" increased as his wealth 
diminished, nntil he had to sell his property to pay his debts. 

In politics Cosmo was equally artful. He knew it would not be wise to 
put himself at the head of affairs ; that would excite jealousy and opposition. 
He kept carefully out of sight, but he put in power men whom he could 
manage to suit himself, — those who owed him money or other obligations, or 
who had done something bad that only he knew about, but whom he would 
not bring to justice as long as they did his bidding. 

But worse still was another method by which he sought to keep the peo- 
ple under his control. He made the city merry with carnivals and festivals 
and other pleasures, that the citizens might become gay and careless of 
public affairs, and leave them more and more into his hands. 

In this way Cosmo made himself and his family the first in Florence ; a 
place which they held for many years. Though they had never belonged 
to the nobility, yet when foreign princes, kings, and their ministers came to 
Florence, it was the Medici who entertained them at their princely mansion. 
Here were gathered the men of culture and learning, musicians, painters and 
sculptors, for :the Medici were great patrons of all the fine arts and 
sciences. But in time this family was made noble ; they became princes and 
dukes, and two of their number were placed in the chair of St. Peter at 
Rome, the place of greatest power then in the world. 

The Snow Statue. — Lorenzo de Medici, one of the most gifted of the 
whole Medici family, and the greatest promoter of art, opened in Florence 
a garden filled with antique statues and busts, for the use of artists. 
Among the students who hastened there to take advantantage of these was 
Michael Angelo, then a mere boy. His first attempt at sculpture so pleased 
Lorenzo that he invited the young artist to come and occupy rooms in his 
house, and become one of his family. When Lorenzo died his son Pietro 
continued the invitation to Angelo. 

One evening as Pietro was entertaining some friends in the great mansion, 
a heavy storm of snow fell, and when the guests went out to go home every 
object in the yard was covered thick with snow. " Look at that Odyssean 
ghost !" cried one of the guests to Pietro, who stood bowing and smiling fare- 
wells to his friends. " Pietro mio, thou hast a noble quarry," said another. 
" Send for the students of San Marco and order a new Colossus." 

"Well thoughtof Francesco," returned Pietro; "We will have a statue be- 
fore our door to fore tell the greatness of our Florence." "Luego," he said, 
beckoning to a page, " Where is the sculptor Angelo ? Let him be called. 



Italy. 



379 



Come to-morrow friends and see the prophetic statue. Come as the bell 
strikes high noon and we shall have some grand sport. 

Michafl Angelo was summoned from his stndio to make a snow statue 
for h s Toung ;atron,-a task that his proud spirit did not exactly ■ re ish. 
H s talente had already excited much admiration, and he resented the idea 

tS^S - the image grew under his handB^ 
ing obediently the thought he wished to put ' 

into it. , 

When the morning sun lighted up tne 
Val d'Arno, there sat a colossal figure of 
Jupiter fronting the window of the Plazzo, 
with the most severe and threatening look 
upon his stern white face. 

The early walkers in Florence that morn- 
ing looked with wonder at the great white 
statue, and soon its fame spread all oyer the 
city All Florence poured out to see it. 

Long before the great bell had tolled the 
hour of noon, the gay young friends of Pietro 
had come in response to his invitation and 
been warmly welcomed. They gathered at 
the window and looked out at the statue 
which was to prophesy the fortunes of Flor- 
ence In the centre of the circle stood the 
handsome Pietro, wrapped in his costly fur mantle, and by his side, at 
his express command, stood Michael Angelo. 

But the sport they expected waswanting. Before the outstretched arm 
warning hand and stern face of that white majestic figure, their jests died 
Iway It was a moment of triumph for the artist. He saw that Pietrpw 
awed as he looked upon the statue he had ordered to furnish sport; the em 
menace it expressed was not the pleasing prophecy he expected. Michael 
Wo felt gratified too, that his talent which was to have furnished sport 
had L compelled admiration from all Florence, as the surging crowd around 

^^rber G of that year, Charles VIII. of France, ruled in th^azzo 
de Medici, and Pietro was a fugitive. Ten years afterward and the waters ol 




RAPHAEL. 



380 Persons and Places in Europe. 

G-arigliano had closed over him, as he was lighting with the French againsl 
the Spaniards. But the prophecy of the snow statue was not yet entirely 
fulfilled. There wasanother side to it,— the future of the great artist who hac 
made it. In L854, all the citizens of Florence were again assembled to do 
honor to a, work of Michae] Angelo, chiseled from the snowy marbles of 
Carara. Slowly tire (glossal statue of David was lifted to its place in the 
piazza del (i ran Duca, and there it has stood ever since; the admiration and 
wonder of all beholders, as the great artist himself, sculptor, painter, arch- 
itect and poet, has been the wonder of the world. 

Raphael's Saint Cecilia.— Next to the nameof Michael Angelo among 
Italian painters is that of Raphael, who was only a few years younger, and 
was particularly oelebrated Tor his numerous Madonnas. In those days the 
best artists were employed in decorating t he chapels and cathedrals, and when 
the chapel at Bologna was finished, Raphael was invited to adorn it with 
religious paintings. 

The building had been dedicated to St. Cecilia, one of the early martyrs, 
who had been a great musician ; so one of the chief features of the decorations 
had to be a picture of Saint Cecilia, and Raphael made it one of his best. 

The picture represents Saint Paul, Saint John, Saint Augustine and 
Mary Magdalene grouped around Saint Cecilia, the centra] figure. The idea 
of the picture is the effect that music has upon each of these different persons 
which is shown by musical instruments scattered around. Saint Pa.nl stands 
quietly Listening, but his face shows that his mind is filled, not so much with 
the music he hears, as with the thoughts it suggests. He represents the in- 
fluenceof musicon areasoning man. Saint John on theotherhand is wholly 
taken up with the sweet sounds. While if lasts he does not stop to think, 
he only listens. That is the effect Of music upon an emotional man. The 
same contrast is repeated in the other two figures, only that Saint, Augustine 
both listens and thinks so that when the music shall have ceased, he will be 
able to describe it, and its effect upon him. Mary Magdalene appears less 
eager than Saint John ; she hears without listening. She feels its soothing 
effect, and is satisfied. She is at peace with herself and the world. 

But with Saint Cecilia the effect is different from all these. She listens, 
thrilled and motionless, but she also,sees as she lifts her eyes the source 
of the heavenly music. She feels the harmony and sees from whence it 
comes. 

Such are the fine distinctions and the beautiful ideas that those old 

painters sought to express in their pictures. They are called the " idealists," 



Italy. 



381 



in distinction from the "realists;" such as Rembrant and others .who 
painted tilings just as they appeared, no matter how ugly. Hie Dutch 
painters tried simply to represent nature; the old Italians elevated 



thoughts 



The Mont Cenis Tunnel.— One of the greatest, if not the greatest 
work ever accomplished by engineers, is the Mont Cenis tunnel through 
the Alps, between France and Italy. This was planned and executed solely 







MOUNT CENIS TUNNEL. 

by the Italians. The St. Gothard, completed eleven years later, is some- 
what longer, but the Mont Cenis one was the pioneer. 

When it was first proposed to tunnel the Alps, everybody, ol course, 
laughed at the idea. They said it would be utterly impossible, that there 
were beds of rock in the Alps so hard that no instrument could penetrate 
them; that great caverns would be run into, leading down nobody knew 
where; that the bottom might be knocked out of some underground lake, 



382 Persons and Places in Europe. 

and not only the mine but the whole country be flooded. But none of 
these imaginary difficulties troubled the engineers ; they were studying 
the real ones. 

The great difficulty was that the work could not be carried on in the 
ordinary manner, by sinking shafts every little way from which to work, 
for the distance from the top of the mountain down to the proposed route 
was nearly as great as the whole length of the tunnel. They must work 
from the ends until they met in the middle. To do this, they must find a 
way of forcing air into the mine to carry out the poisonous vapors of the 
explosions and supply the men ; and they must find some kind of machin- 
ery to work the drills when they were far in the mine, away from air and 
water supplies. Some one finally hit upon a way of forcing in compressed 
air, but then the machinery was lacking. Steam drills had been invented, 
but steam engines to run them would consume more air than they could 
provide. Then some one thought of using the compressed air to drive the 
drills instead of steam. In a little while a machine of this kind was ready, 
and the plans laid before Victor Emmanuel and his ministers, who were then 
busily planning the union of Italy. They both thought very favorably of 
the project, the experiments which were tried were satisfactory ; and in 
1857 Victor; Emmanuel fired the first mine. 

Then very careful surveys had to be made over the line proposed, and 
signal staffs set up so that when the two mines met in the centre they 
should exactly come together, and not pass by each other with several feet 
of rock between. In making these surveys, the engineers had to scale the 
steep sides of the Alps, carrying their instruments, make paths over un- 
trodden regions, and take their measurements in places where a sudder- 
storm would shut out their signal posts and keep them waiting for hours 
on a giddy height. 

While this was going on huge water-wheels were set up in the streams 
at each extremity of the proposed tunnel, and machinery prepared for fur- 
nishing the condensed air. A large tank, something like a gas-holder, was 
put on the bank above the streams. Running up into this from the water 
were a number of hollow tubes, each opening into the tank or receiver, by 
a valve. The current of the stream then would turn the wheel ; the wheel 
force water up into the tubes, which would condense the air already there. 
From there it would go into the receiver, and from there the compressed 
be carried by pipes into the mine. / 

While the machinery was being prepared the drilling was carried on by 



Italy. 



383 



l, : „„l for two or three years. Then the drilling machines were pat in ami 
fept going night and day for nearly ten yearn. Once a CortJught the work 
' s stopped while the engineers took observations to see that the mine was 
befnfkept in a line with the signal posts over the mountain They also had 
to compnte very carefully the grade of the excavations, so that one «1„>..I.I 
not pas over the top of the other when they met. But whethertheu- meas- 




h''V. ■.■■■■ ^n'• , 
IN THE FORUM, LOOKING TOWARD THE OAPITOL. 

areme nts would bring the two mines together true or not , continued to be 
L anxious question through all the years of the work. When at ast, on 
Christmas day, L870, the portion between their, was pierced, Ley fitfc I by 
only a Eew inches. Ten months later the tunnel was opened for railroad 
1 ra vel and now only seven minutes are required to pass through the moun- 
tain over which the route had always been so tedious and dangerous. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



TURKEY— IN EUROPE. 



European Turkey is a bit of Asia that drifted across the Hellespont in 
the fourteenth century, and has not yet gone back ; but the tide of its pro- 
gress is rapidly ebbing that way. During the last century slice after slice 
of the Turk's European territory has been cut away, and his hold upon the 
remainder is very weak. It is only England's careful nursing that has kept 
this "Sick Man" alive so long. 
She is afraid that Russia and Aus- 
tria would, in case of his death, fall 
heir to too large a portion of his 
dominions, and this would threaten 
British possessions in the east. 

At the opening of the present 
century Turkey held possession of 
Greece, Servia and Roumania, all of 
which have now become independ- 
ent; of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 
which have been transferred to 
Austria; and Bulgaria, which is 
now nearly independent. Only the 
old provinces of Macedonia and 
Thrace, and Albania, with a por- 
tion of Epirus and Thessaly are left 
entirely under the Sultan's control. 

All of these provinces, excepting the eastern part of Thrace, are very 
mountainous, but the slopes are richly covered with forests of pine, beech 
and oak at their tops, ranging down through all manner of nut and fruit 
trees to palms and almonds in the valleys. 

The Grave of Orpheus. — The highest land in Turkey is the lofty 




THE HAEEM WINDOW. 



Turkey — In Europe. 385 

Olympian group in the southern part of Macedonia —the sacred ground of 
the ancient Greeks. The throne of Jupiter, they said, was on its summit, 
pnt veiled from mortal eyes by the clouds that ever hovered about it, con- 
cealing the entrance to the vault of heaven. . 

One of the most beautiful myths of the ancient Greeks was that ot the 
sweet singer Orpheus, whose grave, according to their tradition, was at the 
foot of these very mountains that had often been moved out of their place 
by his wonderful music. The madly rushing torrents used to stop m their 
course to listen to him, and the wild beasts of the forest, at the sound ot 
his entrancing melodies, became as tame and gentle as lambs. 

But poor Orpheus ! his beautiful young wife, Eurydice, was taken from 
him and then all the valleys and groves were filled with his piteous lamen- 
tations At last he could bear his grief no longer, and he determined to 
brave the horrors of the lower world in order to entreat the king of that 
region to restore to him his beloved wife. 

Takino- only his golden lyre he descended into the gloomy depths, and 
there, as he journeyed along, his wonderful music arrested for a time the tor- 
ments of the unhappy. Tantalus forgot his perpetual thirst ; and even the 
Furies forgot to be cruel, and shed tears at the sound of his lyre. 

Whenhe came to theking's palace he began to tell his woes, accompany- 
ing his mournful tale with his sweet sounding lyre. And the king and 
queen were both so moved that they promised to let Eurydice go back again 
with her husband, on condition that he would not look upon her until he 
had reached the upper world. 

Orpheus very gladly promised to do as they said, and started back again 
to the re-ions of light, followed by Eurydice. When he had almost reached 
the extreme limits of Hades, forgetting for a moment his promise, he turned 
to see if his wife were really behind him, but that glance was fatal to his 
hope. She was there when he looked, but instantly she was snatched away, 
and vanished forever from his sight. < _ 

His grief now was ten times greater than before, and his music was his 
sole consolation. He wandered all day alone through the wildest and most 
secluded parts of the forest, filling the hills and dales with his sad melodies. 
Happening to come one day upon some Thracian women who were hold- 
ing a wild carnival, they fell upon him with great fury and tore him to 
pieces. Then the Muses collected his remains and buried them at the toot 
of Mount Olympus, and the nightingales warbled a funeral dirge over his 
grave. 



386 Persons and Places in Europe. 

Macedonia. — All the land about the Archipelago, the ancient iEgian 
sea, is full of places made famous by stirring events of the past. The 
largest part of this region was included within ancient Macedonia,— the 
birth-place of him who first gave the country its great name, and of his son 
who made himself master of the whole world. On a little plain northwest 
of the Gulf of Salonica, between the Vardar and Kara rivers, stood the 
ancient town of Pella, where Philip I. of Macedon established his court, 
and here in the year 356 B. C. was born the great conqueror. Here he 
spent his boyhood, taming his fiery steed, Bucephalous, and studying under 
his great teacher Aristotle. It is said that as soon as Philip received the 
news of Alexander's birth he wrote to Aristotle, " I know not which makes 
me the happier,— that I have a son, or that I can have Aristotle for his 
teacher." 

Philip's confidence was rightly placed. The philosopher succeeded in 
making a very good student of the war-like young prince. In the midst 
of his conquests in Asia and Africa, in after years, he used to collect speci- 
mens Of plants and animals to send home to his old teacher, and sometimes 
Aristotle went with him and made valuable conquests in science, while 
Alexander made conquests in war. 

Aristotle's birth-place was also in Macedonia, in the town of Stagira, 
that stood on the borders of the little gulf of Orfani. 

Further to the east, on the northern shore of the Archipelago, stood the 
old city of Philippi, where a number of important events occurred. Philip 
enlarged the place and named it after himself. Near it was a very import- 
ant gold mine, from which he used to obtain a thousand talents of gold 
every year. It was at Philippi that Brutus and Cassius, after the death 
of Julius Csesar, fought with Antony and Octavius, and were defeated 
(42 B. C). With them fell the old Roman republic, and the empire soon 
rose in its place under Octavius, who took upon himself the title of Augus- 
tus Csesar. 

Philippi was twice visited by the apostle Paul, and was the first place 
in Europe where he preached the gospel. Nothing but ruins are now 
found there, among them the remains of a great amphitheatre and a huge 
relic of the temple of Claudius. 

The Golden Horn.— The most important of the Turkish provinces is 
ancient Thrace, extending from the borders of Macedonia to the Bosphorus. 
It contains the rich plain of Adrianople, where roses are raised by the 
acre to be converted into the precious Attar of Eoses, that sells for one 



Turkey— in Europe. 



387 



hundred dollars an onnce. But this is not snch an extravagant price, when 
tt takes four hundred thousand full grown flowers to make an ounce of the 

Ml Where the Bosphorus begins to cut the eastern extremity °f Thrace, 
nearX sea of Marmora, is a little inlet jutting out from the strart into the 
Peninsula, shaped like an ox's horn. Upon this many years ago, a city 
was built by Greek colonists from Sparta and Athens, and was called By- 




THE BOSPHORUS. 

zantium. Having an excellent harbor, and being right on the line of travel 
from Europe to Asia, it grew to be a very flourishing city It became the 
depot of the corn trade between the shores of the Euxme (Black) Sea and 
Greece and Egypt, and was the centre of ^ery extensive fisheries 

Because of the wealth and prosperity thus flowing into it the little inlet 
upon which the city stood received the name of "the Golden Horn 
wMch has clung to it ever since. Upon this « Golden Horn » the ships of 



388 Persons and Places in Europe. 

all nations are riding to-day, loading and unloading their treasures, just as 
they have been doing for ages. But nations have come and gone since I 
then. The city has been taken and retaken, and each new master has 
given it a new name and a new appearance. 

Philip of Macedon attempted to take the city of Byzantium from the 
Greeks, but by the help of the Athenians, whom Demosthenes had at last 
stirred up, it was able to hold out against him. It is said, however, to the 
disgrace of these old Byzantians, that their patriotism was not sufficient to 
keep them at their posts of duty on the walls until their general had planted 
there a range of cook shops. 

The citizens were wise enough not to resist Alexander, and so were not 
disturbed by him. All he asked of them was that they acknowledge him 
as their master. It also became an ally of Rome when that rising power 
was at war with Alexander's failing successors, and continued for a long 
time on good terms with the Roman emperors. But when Yespasian took 
away its liberties, and put over it a Roman governor, there began to be 
trouble. It stood out against the Emperor Severius during a three years' 
siege, and then when at last compelled by famine to surrender, the chief 
citizens were put to death and the massive walls torn down. Again it was 
rebuilt and again sacked and pillaged. At last Constantine captured it, and 
determined to make it the capital of the Roman empire. He began to build 
here a new city, which he intended to call New Rome, but which was finally 
called " the city of Constantine," — Constantinople. 

The Church of Saint Sophia. — When the Roman Empire was divided - 
between the two sons of Theodosius the Great, one of whom was the weak 
Honorius, Constantinople became the capital of the Eastern Empire ; which 
extended over Asia Minor to the Euphrates, over Syria, Egypt and the 
northern coast of Africa, as far as Tunis, and in Europe over nearly all of the 
peninsula between the Adriatic and Black Seas, as far north as the Danube. 

For a thousand years after the Western Empire had fallen (395 — 1453), 
this Eastern, Byzantine, or Greek Empire, continued to hold together, pro- 
tecting from the savage hordes that raged around it the remains of ancient 
Greek and Roman civilization. 

Justinian, who came to the throne about one hundred and thirty years 
after it was established, raised the Empire to the summit of its glory. His 
victorious general, Belisarius, drove the Vandals from Africa and the Goths 
from Rome ; his lawyers collected from all the old Roman laws material for 
a book that has ever since been of great value to the law-makers of every 



390 Persons and Places in Europe. 

civilized nation; and the city of Constantinople was adorned and beautified 
by this successful, bnt vain and selfish ruler, until he thought it "worthy of 
himself." A throng of stately churches, a palace of unequalled splendor, 
groves, gardens, and public edifices, rich with varied marbles, mosaics and 
gold rose over the city, but the crowning glory of them all was the church 
of Saint Sophia. 

To perfect this grand cathedral Justinian labored with a zeal that never 
tired. Often he went about under the glare of the noonday sun while all 
others slept, clothed in a course linen tunis, a staff in his hand, his head 
bound with a linen cloth, directing his workmen, urging the indolent and 
stimulating the industrious. 

The church was built of brick and coated with marble. A hundred 
columns of jasper, porphyry and other costly stones torn from ancient 
temples, unlike in form and carving, sustained the lofty roof. Four high 
columns, very tall and graceful, held up the swelling dome. Twenty- two 
rounded windows threw streams of light through the groined ribs of equal 
number. Four colossal figures of winged seraphins adorned its four angles, 
and from, its summit looked down the majestic face of Christ. 

At the eastern end of the pillared nave, arose the silver screen of the 
altar, composed of twelve pillars wrought in arabesque devices, twined into 
pairs and graced with holy faces. Above was a massive cross of gold. 
The table of the altar was formed of molten gold, and behind it were seats 
of silver, separated by golden pillars, arranged for the bishops and the clergy. 
Tall candelabra of gold of the richest workmanship threw a soft light over 
the glittering scene. The altar cloths were stiff with gold and gems. 

On Christmas day, in the year 538, the great church was dedicated, with 
ceremonies the most pompous and magnificent that Justinian could devise. 

AVhen the great bronze doors rolled open, the Emperor, clothed in purple, 
the patriarch radiant in cloth of gold, a host of clergy arrayed in rich vest- 
ure, filled the silver seats around the altar. The golden candlesticks poured 
down their sparkling lights. The graceful galleries were thronged with 
the fairest and noblest women of Constantinople; throngs of people covered 
the floor and isles, and Justinian in grateful exultation, with arms out- 
stretched and lifted in the attitude of prayer exclaimed, " Glory to God who 
has deemed me worthy of such a work ! I have conquered thee, O Solomon !" 
The chant of countless choristers swelled through the pillared isles. Im- 
mense sums were expended in lavish gifts to the poor. 

For nine centuries the Emperors of Byzantium were crowned in the church 



Turkey— In Europe. 391 

of Saint Sophia; patriarchs were there installed, and Christian festivals 
celebrated with all the pomp of the east. All the imperial marriages and 
baptisms were celebrated at its altars. Its magnificent ceremonies so im- 
pressed the ambassadors of Vladimir in the year 987, that the Greek form 
of the Christian religion was chosen for the rising Russian empire. 

From the pulpit of Saint Sophia in 867, Photius, the patriarch of Constan- 
tinople, pronounced the sentence of excommunication against the pope of 
Rome, and thus started the breach between the Greek and Latin churches, 
which has never yet been healed. 

And here, in the church of Saint Sophia, in 1453, amidst the groans and 
cries of a host of dying Greeks, Mohammed II. strode up the blood-stained 
aisle and proclaimed from the high altar the religion of God and the 
Prophet. The rich ornaments were torn out, the pictures destroyed, and 
the Mohammedan crescent was raised above the high dome in place of the 

Christian cross. 

The Knights at Constantinople. — A little more than three hundred 
and fifty years before the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, the Em- 
peror Alexis had joined Peter the Hermit and the Pope in urging Chris- 
tian princes of Europe to make war on the Turks in the Holy Land. For 
seeing his eastern possessions over-run by these terrible foes, and being 
unable to drive them out himself, he naturally turned to the strong Chris- 
tian warriors of Europe, of whose valor he had heard much, for assistance. 
With joy he heard of their preparation for the war. But his joy was 
turned into surprise, and then into fear and suspicion, when the vast host 
of crusaders began to cross his territory on their way to the Holy Land. 
He had expected a few troops of well disciplined soldiers, but instead came 
the countless legions of rude warriors and people that no man could num- 
ber, pouring with frantic eagerness towards the Bosphorus. He did not at 
all like the appearance of the steel-clad knights, the men of iron, beside 
whom his own subjects looked very small and weak. He feared that they 
would not leave him as well off as they had found him, and required them 
to take an oath of allegiance before he would give them permission to cross 
over into Asia. The knights were greatly displeased at this, and at first 
refused to comply. But their leader, Godfrey of -Bouillon, finally persuaded 
them to yield their pride for the sake of the cause upon which they were 
engaged. All but one consented. But they showed very little respect to 
this magnificent eastern emperor. One knight, when he had taken the oath, 
coolly seated himself beside the monarch on his throne saying, "What 



392 • Persons and Places in Europe. 

churl is this that sits when so many brave knights are standing in his 
presence/' 

None of the emperors officers, though greatly shocked at this rudeness 
to their sovereign, dared offer to molest him, and the emperor himself felt 
it was best to conceal his indignation by asking the name and rank of the 
warrior who had taken so great a liberty. One of tin? other Crusaders took 
the rude knight by the hand, rebuked him for his rudeness and compelled 
him to rise; but still he answered the king's question by saying proudly, " I 
can tell you this. In my country there is an ancient church to which those 
desirous of proving their valor repair, fully armed for battle, and having 
gone through their devotions, there remain to abide the attack of any adven- 
turous knight that may appear to encounter them. At that church, where 
three ways met, have 1 abode for a long space. But there lives not a man in 
France who dared answer my challenge/ ' 

The Emperor replied by saying that if the knight wished to light his 
desire would probably be fully gratified when he met the Turks, and he 
kindly gave him some information about their mode of warfare. 

It is not strange that Alexis breathed easier when these rude warriors 
were safely over the Bosphorus, but he misjudged them and did not assist 
them as much as he promised to in their battles with his foes. He is 
accused of having betrayed them into the hands of the Turks, and of thwart- 
ing their best efforts more than once. If this is true his successors paid 
the penalty in after years when these Turks, having stripped Byzantium of 
her possessions in Asia, crossed the Helespont and conquered all the rest. 

Constantinople was the last G reek stronghold to fall, and with it fell the 
last of the Eastern Emperors, Constantine XIII. He stood at the walls 
bravely lighting and urging his allies not to fly until after the Turks had 
begun to pour over the walls. His body was found among heaps of the slain 
and could only be recognized by the golden eagles embroidered on his shoes. 

The Janizaries. — Not even the old barbarians were more inhuman in 
their treatment of the vanquished than were the Turks in their treatment 
of the Christians. For these people, besides being savage and brutal, were 
religious fanatics. Death or the Koran were the only terms they granted to 
those they conquered. Their rule was one of continual insult, oppression 
and outrage. They shoAved less mercy to the " Christian dog" than to the 
brute dog, who was allowed to live as best he could unmolested. 

One of the greatest afflictions the Christians had to suffer was to yield one- 
lifth of all their bravest boys to be educated in the Mohammedan faith and 



Turkey— In Europe. 



393 



trained to become soldiers. Every fifth year the Turkish officers cam, and 
Juected this priceless tribal, .Von, the Christian fathers and -others a^d 
the boys thus taken never come buck. They often become the most zealous 
of Mohammedans, and the troops they formed, the -Janizaries," were the 
most hardy and valuable of the Sultan's army. 

When Solyman the Magnificent won his great victory at Mphaci ( L526), 
the flower of his troops were these « Janizaries " that had been taken m their 
youth from the conquered people. They were the ™*»^£^ 
the Continent, But aHer thedeathof Sol yuan the Sultans of luikeybegan 
to give themselves up to pleasure, leaving the care of their government «d 
their armies to officers. Then the Janizaries were not well trained ; hey 
became undisciplined and immoral. They were not now always taken from 
the Christians/but from any source whatever. Whoever wished could join 
the Janizaries, whether he knew anything about hghtmg or not, whethei he 
was a respectable citizen or villain. But nearly all were from the very 
lowest classes, little better than vagabonds. 

Then Janizaries began to rebel against the Sultan. When set to guard 
a city or province, they seized whatever they wished from the people put to 
death whom they chose, and when the Sultan sent orders that did not 
please them, appeared "with their kettles reversed,"-a sign that they were 
Line to do as they pleased. The spoon and kettle was the chief badge 
of the Janizaries, and when they were in revolt they always announced it 
bv turning their kettles upside down. 

For a long time the turbulent Janizaries made great trouble for the Sultan, 
as well as for the people over whom they tyrannized. Some ol the Sultans 
were put to death for trying to reduce them to order; others sought to keep 
on good terms by yielding to them. 

It was not until 1820 that these troublesome troops were disposed oi. 
Sultan Mahmoud had been obliged on first ascending the throne to pardon 
a number of the Janizaries, but he began at once planning to overcome 
them After gaining over on his side some of the chief officers w. 1 1. thi 
Mohammedan priests, he issued an order that a certain number of paries 
out of every regiment should join the regular disciplined militia. 1 his as He 
expected, lead to a great revolt. The kettles were all turned upside down, 
but the Sultan was ready for them. A large number of citizens, pnva 
guards and sailors, seized the artillery and turned it upon the rebellious 

°Terrible scenes now followed. The Janizaries fought with great fury, but 



394 Persons and Places in Europe. 

they were overcome. They were burned in their barracks, cannonaded, 
massacred in the streets, and driven into exile. Within three months 
twenty-five thousand were killed, and the order was never reorganized. 

The Turk at Home.— The Turk is a man who loves his else ; yet he 
lives in a most uncomfortable manner. He smokes his " chibouque" on sofas 
without backs ; he uses his knees for a writing desk, and the floor for a 
dinner table. He is fond of riding, and has no roads. He is fond of visit- 
ing his friends in state, but has no carriage. 

The Turk's wives are so muffled up that they cannot see where they are 
walking; they roll about like barrels from the length of their dresses and 
the largeness of their shoes. He veils and imprisons them, yet allows them 
to go where they please unaccompanied. He is never seen in public with 
his wife, never suffers her name to pass his lips, and would consider it an 
insult to be asked after her health. 

The Turk is both extravagant and penurious; he keeps a multitude of 
servants, horses, pipe-sticks and houses, but his servants are poorly dressed, 
his horses are worthless, and his houses are often in such bad repair that 
the rain comes down into the drawing-room. 

In Turkey great men salute those beneath them. Other Europeans take 
off their hats to show respect, the Turk takes off his shoes. 

The Turkish gentlemen of means has his house and everything about it 
in the most exquisite taste. The walls are of white marble, and surround 
an open court, in the midst of which is a fountain flashing its bright water 
from a thousand jets ; and its marble basin alive with gold-fish 

The buildings are surrounded with orange trees, palms, limes, and ter- 
races of flowers. The morning room is lighted by windows that open upon 
a beautiful garden threaded with marble walks. In the center perhaps is 
an artificial ledge of rocks, with a stream breaking over them into a num- 
ber of waterfalls. 

The covering of his furniture and drapery of his rooms is of rich satin 
damask ; the hangings are of velvet worked and fringed with gold ; the 
tables are covered with cloth of gold and silver ; the floors are covered 
with matting and rich rugs. There are curious little stands here and there 
inlaid with mother-of-pearl ; there are carved wooden boxes, and clocks 
that produce singing birds to announce the hours. His dinner is placed on 
silver trays, resting on low stools, around which are drawn cushions of 
pink and sky-blue satin, embroidered with gold and silver and colored 
silks. Beside every cushion are napkins of the finest muslin exquisitely 



Turkey— In Europe. 



395 



wrought with golden birds and silken flowers. A row of slaves reaching 
torn the furthest tray to the door, pass the dishes from hand to hand 
until they reach the master, to whom the slave kneels as he presents them. 
Slaves lead the guests to their cushions, spread a napkin over their knees 
Sour rose wLr from a golden ewer over their hands Then each gues 
helps himself from the dish in the center of the table, taking from any part 
of it whatever he wishes. +*#*.„«„ 

The Turk is fond of a variety of food; and has usually about fifteen 
courses at his private dinner, yet the meal does not last so long as m other 
countries, where there are fewer courses. The slaves remove each dish as 
soon as it is used, and the next course is passed m. 

After an evening spent in listening to music, to his jesters watctoig 
his dancers and talking with his guests, the Turk retires to his bed which 
is a silk cushion, orange colored perhaps, embroidered with gold and filled 
with swan's down. And he draws over him when he lies down to his 
night's rest, a sheet of blue silk gauze brilliantly marked with crimson 
stripes, and a coverlid of pale violet silk worked with azure and golden 

°The Harem —In the Turk's house are two departments, the " place of 
oreetinff " where the master receives his guests and transacts all his busi- 
ness and the "harem," or "Sacred Enclosure," where his family lives. 
In the first the doors are always open, the windows unlatched, the rooms 
comparatively bare. But the other, the abode of his mother, wife or wives, 
daughters and female slaves, is carefully guarded from all outsiders, ex- 
cept female friends, and is embellished with every ornament and luxury 

that he can afford. . . . T 

The harem is the Turk's chief solace. There he is his own master. No 
man mav enter without his permission. Even officers sent to arrest him 
dare notfenter the harem, neither will the servants call him out to attend to 
any business however important. The Turks lost an important battle m the 
late war with Russia because the commander-in-chief was m his harem when 
-the officer in charge telegraphed him that the Russians were advancing, 
and asked for orders. The servants would not take the message to their 
master. The general on the field waited in vain for an answer, and then 
ordered a retreat on his own responsibility. After the defeat the authori- 
ties inquired into the case, and punished-not the commander-m-chief-it 
was not once supposed that the message could have been taken to him, but 
the general who lost the battle. He was condemned to exile. 



396 Persons and Places in Europe. 

The law of Mohammed allows four wives to all faithful followers of the 
prophet, but most Moslems find si^ch a large household too expensive, and 
too uncomfortable because of the many family quarrels that are likely to 
arise. In most houses there is but one mistress, and her rule is undisputed. 
She looks after the welfare of the children and the slaves with true house- 
wifely care, is very dutiful and respectful to the aged grand-parents, and 
hospitable to strangers. 

.The Turkish woman is very generous, always ready to give alms . When- 
ever the family has some special cause for rejoicing, or for mourning, she 
remembers the poor. She goes out very seldom, but when she does she 
takes with her a well-filled alms-bag, and gives something to every beggar 
she passes. 

^ The Turkish women are not educated to support themselves, and when 
widowed, or left without support, they have no resources but the friendly 
harems, which are open to all such. A poor woman comes to the door with 
all her worldly goods done up in a little bundle, and presents a letter from 
some friend of the family. She is admitted at once. Her place is set at the 
table, or among the slaves, according to her former rank. Mattresses and 
padded quilts are spread for her at night, and she remains for several days a 
guest of the house. 

When she is ready to go, she receives a letter to another harem and a 
garment or two, perhaps an entire new outfit. It would be considered a dis- 
grace to send her away without at least one new garment. 

There seems to be a kind of freemasonry among these women. They 
are ever ready to do all they can for each other. This is well known among 
the Turkish officials, or politicians, and when one man wants to obtain a 
favor. from another, he often sends his wife to the other's harem. Here she 
flatters and coaxes and bribes the women until they promise to help her and 
goes home. When the favorable time comes the new advocates broach the 
subject to their master, and the point is usually gained. The solemn and 
dignified Turk is " like wax in the hands of his harem." The mothers 
especially have great influence over their sons . It is a doctrine of the Koran 
that parents should be reverenced and obeyed. 

The Turkish women are generally well satisfied with their positions and 
finatically attached to their religion. They are more bigoted and intolerant 
of foreigners than the men. They may frequently be heard praying down 
curses upon those who pass them in the streets. They believe that the 
Americans have learned all their great arts from Satan himself. 



Turkey — In Europe. 397 

The Sultan's Household.— The Sultan of Turkey is allowed a larger 
number of wives than his subjects, and having more money and more time 
-to attend to family jars, usually indulges in a good many. But he often 
finds his household expenses heavier than he can afford, and his ministers 
are sadly perplexed to raise the necessary funds. Each wife has to have 
her slaves, carriages, coachmen, and full suite of servants, and the maids 
of honor all have their separate residences, carriages and horses. All of 
these royal ladies have besides a very great weakness for costly jewelry, 
pearls and diamonds, and when their royal master undertakes to cut short 
their costly purchases, then there is a general conspiracy among all the 
women of the harem. They pout, and scold, and make the Sultan's life so 
miserable, that for peace sake he grants them whatever they desire. 

One time when the ladies had been more than usually extravagant, and 
-the royal treasury was running very low in consequence, the European 
diplomats waited upon the Sultan in a body and begged him to show him- 
self master in his own house and stop these needless expenses. The poor 
man heaved a deep sigh and expressed his regret that he was not in a po- 
sition to meet them. 

One great drain upon the Sultan's purse is the cost of marrying and main- 
taining the princesses. These royal ladies choose their husbands from among 
the men at their father's court. The chosen man has to be .immediately 
made lieutenant-general of the army, and given a magnificent, fully fur- 
nished mansion, with a liberal allowance of pocket money, besides the amount 
necessary for his household expenses. 

A great arrav of costly wedding presents are made the pair,— diamonds, 
rubies, pearls, diadems, bracelets, girdles, cups, furs, gold embroidered 
dresses and a thousand smaller articles, all enclosed in gold or silver bas- 
kets. The wedding dress is of pearls and embroidery and costs an enormous 

sum. 

The bridegroom is not always over and above pleased at being chosen, 
for he must divorce his wife if he have one, and live henceforth almost as 
secluded a life as that of the ordinary Turkish woman. In fact, the tables 
are completely turned against him. He becomes the imprisoned member 
of the household, and his wife goes when and where she pleases. 

Whether his bride be handsome or not, he does not know until the 
ceremony has been performed and she has made a visit to her future home 
in state with her maids, examined all the furnishings and then if pleased 
comes to take up her abode. A kind of palace state-room having been pre- 



398 Persons and Places in Europe. 

pared for her she enters with her maids, seats herself on a throne and the 
young husband is allowed toMook for the first time on her face, as the 
maids raise her veil. 

Whether she be pretty or homely she lets him understand that she is 
master of the house. He must never leave his room without her permis- 
sion, he must come to her the instant she sends for him no matter what he 
is doing. In her presence he stands until she asks him to be seated. If 
he wishes to go out he must ask her permission, and one of her eunuchs is 
sent with him to see that he does nothing contrary to her orders. He must 
never look at another woman, while she, if she wishes to see gentlemen, 
orders him to invite whoever she wishes to the house. The invited guests 
assemble in a room separated from hers with a gilt grating. On one side 
is the princess with her ladies, hearing and seeing without being seen ; on 
the other side the gentlemen who talk of such subjects as they think will 
please their unseen royal audience. 

There is no escape for such a husband, if he is dissatisfied, while the 
princess may obtain a divorce any day she pleases. 

The Turkish Bath. — One of the Turk's greatest luxuries is his bath. 
Every well-to-do person has in his house his marble bath-room, with great 
furnaces underneath to heat the whole floor. If he is not able to have this 
he goes to the public bath-house. But even here, in the perfectly arranged 
apartments, administered by well trained attendants, the Turkish bath is a 
luxury. 

The first apartment of the real Turkish bathing establishment is a spa- 
cious hall open at the summit, to admit a gentle but free circulation of air. 
Running around it, by the wall, is a raised dais or platform covered with a 
carpet and divided into compartments, one for each visitor. In the center 
of the building is a fountain playing into a marble basin. 

In the little room on the platform the visitor undresses and puts on 
three scarfs of toweling, warm and rough, but soft and gaily bordered with 
blue or red silk. One of these he ties around his waist, one is thrown 
across the shoulders, and the third is twisted up in a turban for his head. 
With wooden pattens on his feet he then walks to the heated chamber, 
followed by two attendants. 

This room has a marble platform on each side, raised about a foot and 
a half above the central part, upon which the attendants place a mattress 
and cushion. Coffee and pipes are brought, and while taking his ease in 
this comfortable way, the perspiration starts gently from all the pores of 



Turkey — In Europe. 



399 



his body. A little " shampooing " is done here, the attendant rnbbing the 
feet and lightly tapping the neck and limbs to increase the perspiration. 
When this has fully broken out the bather enters the hot chamber. 

In this, the attendant begins the shampooing, first pouring on a bowl- 
ful or two of water. Then, with his glove of camel's or goat's hair, he rubs 
the whole surface of the body, delicately and briskly. After this opera- 
tion a bowl of water is brought, frothed with perfumed Cretan soap, and 
applied with the soft, fibrous life of the palm tree. Hot clothes are then 




FOUNTAIN ST. SOPHIA. 

wrapped about the bather's body, a bowl of cold water is dashed over his 
feet and he is ready for the cooling room, thefrigidarium. 

Many glowing descriptions have been given of the pleasurable feeling 
that now follows, while the bather reclines upon a couch in the cool, refresh- 
ing air of this final chamber. His blood fairly sparkles through his veins ; 
there is a sense of boundless energy and yet of absolute rest. The air feels 
electrical and breathing a delight. This feeling soon gives place to an 
eager desire for exercise, and then the whole man is ready for a whole day's 

work. 

Fountains. — Far more numerous than the baths even, and every town 
and village has its bath as surely as its mosque, are the fountains. In all 
the principal cities there is scarcely a street in which they may not be 



400 Persons and Places in Europe. 

found. Large legacies are o^ten left by dying Turks to be used in build- i 
ing fountains. Some are very old and no longer active ; their marble tanks i 
full of dust and melon rinds ; their gildings worn off, and the name of the j 
Turk who built them forgotten. 

Fountains are found in all places about the city, — " by the water's edge, i 
in the open places where boatmen and horse boys congregate, by the bazar's j 
dark entrance, by the khans where laden pack horses go in and out all day, 
beyond the city walls where the country opens into gardens and broad 
dusty tracts." 

They are of all sizes, from that at the Seraglio gate, with its square bulk 
and circular towers to the mere boarded over arch top and tank. They are ; 
of many varying patterns, but generally with a wide over-lapping roof, so as to 
make a large shade; around their base a terrace and tall gratings with drink- 
ing-vessels attached by chains . These gratings are always specially beautiful, 
fine as jeweler's work and full of flowing lines, trefoil and heart shaped, and 
blossoming into a thousand fairy like shapes. The marble shafts between 
the gratings are ornamented with honeysuckle wreaths, trails of wild vines, 
rose branches, and tendrils of jasmine and pomegranate. 

Human figures, the Koran forbids, so the Turks have no painters or 
sculptors, but they are very skillful in the portraying pots of roses, lilies, 
bunches of grapes, dishes of pears and numerous fan-like ornaments. 

Two things are always to be seen about a Turkish fountain : the first, 
pigeons, the second, street boys. Always pigeons on the lead roof, cooing, 
spreading their purple necks to the light, fondling, pecking or fluttering ; 
always the street boys, watchful and mischievous, who sit in the niches, with 
their dirty backs against the gilding and carving, idle and happy. Over 
them lies the broad shadow, and they lie under it as in a shady wood, de- 
fying the heat which makes the paving-stones just beyond the shadow, all 
but red-hot. 

Often a boatman's oars rest up against the carved brackets, while the 
owner snatches a nap under the greatful shadow, having first drank of the 
fountain. Hundreds of times in a day these brass cups, all in a row under 
the stanchioned grating, are filled and emptied. 

Fires in Constantinople. — The capital city of Turkey has probably 
more fountains than any other city in the world, and it has also more de- 
structive fires. "Asa storm is said to be always going on in some part of 
the sea," says one, "so a fire, larger or smaller is always raging in some 
part of the narrow wooden streets of Constantinople." Instead of creating 



Turkey — In Europe. 401 

L panic, a fire here is always the signal for a good time. The people attend it 
much as they do a theatre in other countries. A crowd quickly gathers 
and struggle for a place in the balconies of the opposite houses or upon the 
piles of carpets, cushions and pillows that have been hurried out of the 
burning houses. Having found a place, the women in one place and the 
men in & another, they settle down comfortably, with a look of calm enjoy- 
ment to watch the fire that is destroying their neighbors property, or per- 
haps their own. If so they resign themselves to their loss without a mur- 
mur, for whatever comes is sent by Allah and must therefore be right. 

In a few moments refreshments begin to come from all quarters, sweet- 
meats, confectionery and sherbet, carried around by peddlers, who act as 
if the fire were gotten up expressly for their benefit. They rush around 
amid the falling smoke, elbowing to one side the police, who are hurrying 
to the fire with pails of water on their heads. 

It is small wonder, therefore, that with no fire department, no engines, 
and houses built mostly of wood, there should be many terrible fires m the 
great city of Stamboul. One night in 1852, seven fires broke out, destroying 
about thirty-five thousand houses; in 1865, a fire swept away eight thousand 
houses, twenty mosques, and a large number of baths, khans, and other 
public buildings. Others nearly as destructive occurred in 1870, and in 

1873. . . 

Homeless Dogs.— A very curious, and not altogether pleasant sigiit m 
-the large cities of Turkey, are the hordes of dogs that run wild about the 
.streets without home or master. " If you look down a hole under a door- 
step," says a visitor, " blind puppies crawl up ; if you go out at dusk and 
fall over something, and that something turns and bites you, it will prove 
to be a dog." Dogs lurk under the market stalls, prowl about mosque 
gates, roam (not without kicks and cuffs) through the dim vaulted drug 
bazaars ; they lie in the open streets and sleep, unmindful of passing foot 
or wheel ; they haunt the cemeteries and the cypress groves, are m fact 
everywhere. 

A traveler passing through one of the burying grounds saw an opening 
in a grave, and while he was wondering what had caused it, up came a little 
puppy, toddling and winking at the light. And while he was wondering 
how this little fellow came to have a grave for his kennel, up toddled four 
others winking, yelping, and rolling over each other .^ Lastly the mother 
appeared at the opening, watchful and anxious for their safety. 
" As it is against the Mohammedan creed to kill animals unnecessarily, the 



402 Persons and Places in Europe. 

dogs are suffered to live ; but their own kind are less merciful. It is no un- 
common sight to see a pack of dogs tearing along the street in full chase after 
some strange dog, who has ventured within their district. The poor victim, 
covered with mud and blood struggles on, while from every doorway, hole in 
the ground, or rubbish heap, dash out fresh persecutors to worry and tumble 
and bite him still more. 

In the busy parts of the city, the dogs are seldom dangerous. They are 
so kicked and driven that they become altogether meek and sneaking. The 
shop-men are making constant charges upon them with sticks and stones. 
But they are more fierce and sullen in the suburbs, where they have only 
women and children to contend with. 

Dancing Dervishes. — -Among the Turks there is a class of people who 
are to the Mohammedan religion what the Monks are to the church of Rome, 
in that they own no property and spend their time in religious rites and 
ceremonies. They are commanded to support themselves by the labor of 
their hands, but many prefer to obtain their living by begging. Some lead 
a vagrant life, traveling about from one country to another, playing the part 
of jugglers, sorcerers, and montebanks, and finding a refuge in their numer- 
ous convents. Those who wish are allowed to live in villages with their 
families, but they are required to spend two nights each week with their 
associates. 

There are several sects of these dervishes, and each has its own peculiar 
methods of worship. The mos t numerous of these are the dancing dervishes, 
founded by a Persian poet who is said to have turned around on his toes 
for four days without stopping, while his companion played the flute. 

His followers try to imitate him and their zeal keeps them going, not 
for four days, but until they drop from exhaustion. 

A large congregation usually gathers to witness the performances of the 
dancing dervishes, and occasionally an "infidel" gets in. The spectators 
occupy a gallery, with a corner reserved for the flute players ; the dancers 
assemble in solemn procession upon the smooth floor below. With arms 
crossed upon their breasts, eyes closed, and their white sandaled feet peep- 
ing out from beneath their long gray dresses, they begin their rounds, tip- 
toeing along to the accompaniment of the flutes. Then there is a kind of 
salute from one division of dancers to the other, and then the waltzing 
begins. Round and round they go, one after another, each one spinning on 
his toes. The wind gradually fills and spreads out the long grey dress, but 
so fast it goes round one can scarcely make out anything but the face. 



Turkey — In Europe. 



403 



When the flutes cease, then stop their whirling very suddenly, otherwise 
they keep on until they drop down. 

Another sect called the howling dervishes perform their religious cere- 
monies in a more terrible manner. 

They begin by prostra- 
ting themselves upon the 
earth, with their foreheads 
in the dust. The priest 
commences a long, low wail, 
which is echoed by the whole 
band, and then they begin to 
rock their bodies back and 
forth. Soon they grow excit- 
ed. Their eyes shine, froth 
gathers upon their lips, their 
faces are fearfully contort- 
ed, while the perspiration 
rolls down in drops. 

Each moment their cry 
of "Al'lan-hon!" is re- 
peated with greater fury, 
until their words give way 
to mere frantic roarings. As 
their excitement and fury 
increases some roll upon the 
floor in death-like convul- 
sions. The others toss their 
arms in the air like maniacs. 
The priest regulates the 
chant by clapping his hands 

to increase its speed, or demanding by gestures that it 
in this way the wailing and howling, and cry of " Al'lah-hon ! " 
up until the strongest fall into convulsions, or sob and 
prostration. 




MTJSSELMAN WOMAN. 



go slower 



is 
cry 



And 
kept 
from 



\ 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

GREECE. 

Greece is sacred soil to all students of the past. Upon it rose the most 
wonderful civilization that the world ever saw. There has never lived a 
race of people gifted with such wonderful imagination, and such a love of 
beauty as the ancient Greeks. They have been the world's teacher in phil- 
osophy, in literature, and in nearly all branches of learning, in art and in 
architecture for hundreds of years. 

The old Greeks grew up amid scenes of great natural beauty, and their 
literature shows that they appreciated it. They are ever speaking of the 
sighing of the trees in the wind ; of the rush and splashing of the sea on the 
beach ; of the trinkling of fountains ; of the chirp of grasshoppers in the 
sun ; of the cooing of doves, the hum of bees, the barking of dogs, the low- 
ing of kine ; of the neighing of the war-horse as he bounds and plunges 
over stream and chasm. 

Mount Parnassus. — Though showing many signs of neglect and de- 
cay, Greece is still full of beautiful scenery. It bristles with mountains 
from the interior to the very tips of the jutting headlands. Mountains 
cluster together in groups, and cross and recross each other in every dis- 
trict and province. Her crowning glory. Mount Olympus, the palace of 
her ancient gods, has been taken away, with nearly all of the Pindus, but 
she has left the mountains of Parnassus, the home of her Muses, the site 
of her far-famed oracle of Delphi. In the midst of the bold, rugged rocks 
and wild glens of ancient Phocis, just north of the gulf of Corinth, rises this 
renowned old cluster of mountains. The highest summit overlooks all 
Greece, — the irregular coast with its singular deep bays, where the sea lies 
within the arms of the land ; in the north the immortal pass of Thermopo- 
la?, in the south the ocean of mountains that fill +he land of the valiant old 
Spartans . 

On every hand are the scenes of Greece's ancient glory mingled with 



Greece. 405 

the evidences of her great decline. The valleys, every one of which once 
swarmed with cattle, blushed with orchards and glowed with harvests, are 
now many of them, brown and dry, deserted or neglected. The culture 
that' once brought such bountiful crops from the smiling land has for 
many years been wanting. Through the once proud cities where the young 
men came to listen to the wise old philosophers, the traveler now passes, 
revolver in hand, with sidelong glances into the bushes for fear of lurking 
brio-ands The fair, wild region, "the haunt of nymphs m the days of 
- Hesiod, had become the lair of pirates in the days of Byron." 

Parnassus is being stripped of his glory also. Huge bowlders are being 
constantly loosened from his side by earthquakes and sent crashing down 
the slopes at his feet. Great scars cover all his sides, where these pieces 
have been torn off. A litttle town situated underneath some of the over- 
hand cliffs of Parnassus, presents the most crooked and uncertain appear- 
ance owing to the fallen bowlders which have blocked up her streets and 
crushed her houses. Great damage was done to the town when these first 
began to fall, about 187 A. D., but now the bowlders that rattle down are 
not so large, though more frequent; almost every day one or more falls. 

The Oracle of Delphi. -Within the most secluded valley of Mount 
Parnassus, surrounded by the loftiest heights, is the site of the ancient oracle 
of Delphi, to which thousands of the old Grecians used to come on long 
pilo-rimages, to inquire of Apollo concerning the all-important affairs of 
their lives From a narrow cleft in the rock issued a strange intoxicating 
vapor, which was said to be the breath of inspiration from Apollo himsett. 
Over this sacred cleft, was placed a three legged stool or tripod upon which 
a priestess seated herself, after she had fasted three days and bathed in the 
Castalian spring near by. As she inhaled the vapor she became strangely 
excited, uttering groans, confused sounds, and disconnected words, and 
, sometimes became so violent that those who heard her fled m terror. The 
priestess frequently died from the effects. 

The confused words she uttered were all caref ully noted down by the art- 
ful priests, who made them mean whatever they thought would best fit the 
case of the person who had come to consult the oracle. As people were con- 
stantly coming to them from all parts of the country, they were able to keep 
informed of all that was going on, and could thus answer many questions with 
a wisdom that seemed to the simple people far more than human. When- 
ever they were in doubt about anything they shaped their answer so care- 
fully that it could be fitted to any result. Thus when Croesus, king of 



406 Persons and Places in Europe. 

Lydia, asked the oracle if he should be successful against Cyrus, king of 
Persia, the answer was, if he crossed a certain river he would destroy a great 
empire. He crossed the river, but was defeated, and his kingdom was taken 
by the Persians. This, said the interpreters of the oracle, was a direct ful- 
filment of the prophecy, for by crossing the river to fight the Persians he 
had destroyed his own empire. 

But on one occasion the priests thought they could give a definite answer, 
and then the result turned out so directly opposite that there was no way 
of escaping the fact that they had blundered. 

When the Persian host was marching upon Greece, the priests hearing 
of their great numbers, thought all opposition would be useless, and so 
declared ; but the battles that followed proved their prophecy false, and 
they lost their reputation. 

Adjoining the sacred cleft was the great temple of Apollo, made rich by 
the thousands of beautiful and costly presents brought to it every year. Its 
front was built entirely of beautiful Persian marble, and it was covered with 
the most beautiful and costly ornaments. Within the temple were two 
stones which were supposed to mark the very center of the earth. They 
were anointed with oil and decked with garlands every day. Beside them 
were two eagles to remind the worshippers that the spot had been ascertained 
by the meeting here of two eagles, sent out by Jupiter from the opposite 
ends of the earth for that purpose. 

When the Roman conquerors came into Greece they plundered the rich 
temple of Delphi of its sacred treasures. Nero carried off five hundred 
bronze statues, and still three thousand were left. Constantine, afterward, 
took many of these to adorn his capital. Julian, who came after Constan- 
tine, tried to revive idolatry, and sent to consult the famous old oracle. 
But the reply was, " Tell the king, the fair wrought dwelling has sunk into 
the dust. Phoebus has no longer a shelter nor a prophetic laurel. Neither 
has he a speaking fountain; the fair water is dried up." A few years 
after this, Theodosius the Great took the oracle at its word, and closed it 
up forever. The splendid temple sank into decay and ruin. The gym- 
nasia and porticos tumbled down the precipitous cliffs ; the prophetic 
chasm was filled up by the Christians with fear and horror, for they 
thought it the very mouth of the pit. The only remaining trace of the old 
temple is the marks of the chisel on the rock against which it stood, and a 
slight difference in color between this portion and the rest. 

The Castalian Spring. — Near the site of the old Temple of Delphi are 




INTERIOR OF THE PARTHENON. 



408 Persons and Places in Europe. 

two great tocks rising up so close together that they form a high, narrow 
chasm. From the bottom of this issues the famous Castalian spring, whose 
waters the ancient Greeks thought contained the gift of poetry and music. 
This place, where the mountains rose so grand and lofty, yet softened with 
all the beautiful forms and sounds of nature, they thought must surely 
be the favorite abode of the gods of poetry and music whom they called the 
Muses. What could be more beautiful than the musical little streams, that, 
fed by the melting snows on the mountain's top, came tumbling down his 
lofty sides, or the beautiful carpets of green spread over the face of the 
numerous cliffs, waving with wild anemone, or the valleys stretching out 
beyond in green and golden lemon groves. And up from the blue Mediter- 
ranean came the cool sea-breezes, heavily laden with sweets from the orange 
bowers on their way. Surely there could be no place more fit for the 
haunts of the gods of beautiful thoughts than this Mount Parnassus. 

So they cut a square stone basin out of the rock, below the spring, to re- 
ceive the water, and stone steps leading down into it; and upon the face 
of the rock around they cut niches for the reception of flowers and other 
offerings to the Muses. 

This fountain was also considered sacred to Apollo, who himself was a 
god of song and stringed instruments, and in this water the priestess of 
Delphi used to bathe before she took her place over the vaporous cleft. 

The reverence of the Greeks for this place was so great that in the year 
564 they cast down from the top of the precipice a man whom they thought 
guilty of an act of sacrilege. And this man was no other than iEsop, the 
writer of the famous fables, who had been sent by Croesus to consult the 
oracle. 

The Coryctan Cave. — Upon the highest summit of Mount Parnassus, 
called now Mount Lycorea, was a cave where dwelt the funny little Pan, 
the merriest and most curious of all the Grecian gods. He was supposed 
to sing and dance about and make sport for all the other gods and goddesses, 
and hence his name of Pan, — all, for he pleased all. He was a terrible 
homely creature with horns, a pug nose, a goat's beard, feet and tail, and 
yet all the nymphs and goddesses were constantly singing and dancing 
around him, pleased with his funny ways and the merry music of his won- 
derful pipe. This pipe which was one of his chief charms, came to him 
through a great misfortune caused by his ugliness. Being greatly pleased 
with one of the fair nymphs named Syrinx, he started in pursuit of her one 
day, and she fled in great terror from her ugly admirer. Finding that she 






Greece. 



would be overtaken, she prayed to the gods for dehverance and they 
Xn 2 ed her into a reed. While poor Pan was moaning over his loss, the 
wndsgentiy swayed the reeds, and produced a sweet murmuring sound 
pin was greatly charmed with the soothing tones and began cutting %te 
reeds and putting them together until he had formed a pipe which would 
give outthe same's*** tones, and which he named the syrinx, after hislost 

^mong men Pan was supposed to be the especial protector of shepherd Is 
„„ ATnte" He was supposed to be always wandering about his favorite 
lottos woods and dells .cheerful and always noisy, but taking good care 
of tne sheep and cattle committed to his keeping. The shepherds who had 
no folds nor pens for their sheep used to drive them into caves for shelter, 
at ni'ht and before they went to sleep called upon Pan to protect them 
The hunters too besought his favor when they went out for game, but if 
limy had to come' back empty handed they bestowed a good * jg ; upon 
the image of the naughty god, which was always kept in their houses. 
Thev evidently were not very much afraid of Pan's displeasure. 

^•aveler's had no love for Pan, for it was supposed that he made all the 
sudden and startling noises that came from the depths of the forests 
hrough which they passed. Besides all of his ugliness Pan had a most 
harsh and dreadful voice. He frightened the Titans once into flight ; d*r- 
fug their struggles with the gods, and several times he was bought to 
hawe helped the Greeks in battle by frightening their enemies with his tor- 
'rible voice It is from the name of this god that we get our word 

" P The Olympian PLAix.-More sacred still than Mount Parnassus in 

the estimation of the old Greeks, was the plain of Olympia, southwest of 

the guU of Corinth, on the river Alpheus. On this plain Croims the 

father of all the gods, was worshipped, and here was raised a temple in 

htnor of Ws grit son, Zeus (Jupiter), that was only equaled by the Par- 

thenon at Athens. One of the seven wonders of the world was the great 

statue of Zeus that adorned this temple, that was in fact its chief feature 

and brought it its greatest renown. A person who never saw this statue 

was consfdered most unfortunate. Its maker was Phidias, the greatest of 

111 the G recmn sculptors. It was sixty feet high, seated on a finely sculp- 

uied thron of cedar, inlaid with gold, ivory, ebony aMFec.**^ 

The face feet and body were of ivory; the eyes were brilliant jewels, the 

hafr aTd'beard pur e gold. The drapery was of beaten gold enameled with 



410 Persons and Places in Europe. 

flowers. One hand grasped a scepter composed of precious metals and sur- 
rounded by an eagle, the other held a golden statue of the wingless goddess 
of victory. 

For over 800 years this wonderful statue stood in its place at Olympia, 
until the downfall of paganism in the fourth century after Christ. Then it 
was removed to Byzantium, and not long after perished in a fire. What 
would not the artists of later years have given to be able to see and study 
this master- piece of the first great sculptor. 

The second attraction of Olympia was the festivals held there every 
four years. These came to be of such importance that all dates were reck- 
oned from them. People came from all over Greece and from the Greek 
colonies in Asia, Africa and Europe to attend these festivals. Great em- 
perors like Alexander used to here make their public announcements, the 
poets and historians read or repeated their productions, and artists exhib- 
ited their works. The great plain was covered with crowds of people, 
dancing, singing, lying at ease on the grass amid the shady groves and the 
white temples and statues, all crowned with flowers, eating sweetmeats and 
having a very merry time. 

The chief feature was the games for the trial of strength and endur- 
ance. At first these were only races over the great " stadium," but after a 
time wrestling matches, boxing, leaping, throwing the quoit and the javelin 
were introduced. Besides these were foot races in which the runners wore 
heavy armor, several kinds of races on horseback, races between chariots 
drawn by two horses or by mules, wrestling and running matches between 
boys ; but no combats with any kind of weapons. In all cases those who 
took part in the games must go through a careful training and take a sol- 
emn oath to contend fairly. Any attempt to bribe one person to give the 
victory to another was punished by a heavy fine. 

The prize given to the victors was only a simple olive wreath plucked 
from a sacred tree near Olympia; but the person who won it was a very 
famous man all the rest of his life. His name was written in the record of 
the games, and when he reached home his neighbors and friends all made 
feasts in his honor, poets sang his praises, and sometimes his fellow citizens 
hired a great sculptor to make his statue to be placed on the plain of Olympia. 

Discovekies at Olympia. — For a thousand years after the barbaric in- 
vasion that caused the fall of Rome, and the destruction of many works of 
art in both Italy and Greece, the statues and temples on the plain of Olym- 
pia were forgotten. They went both out of mind and out of sight. When 



412 Persons and Places in Europe. 

people became sufficiently civilized to look around for these famous ol&J 
works they were nowhere to be seen. In the year 1829 a large fragment oft 
a sculptured column was found in the center of the Olympian plain, having 
worked its way up through the ground. This led people to think that there 
were probably more where that came from, but it was not until 1875 that 
any one undertook to search for them. A company of German scientists 
then began, with the help of their own government and the consent of the 
king of Greece, to explore the plain of Olympia. Several hundred workmen i 
were engaged, and for long months the digging went on and nothing but 
sand was found. But at last they came upon a confused mass of sculptured 
fragments, columns, capitals, architraves and blocks of stone, remains of 
statues, terra-cottas and tile. These were not in the positions in which they 
had at first fallen, or been thrown down, but as they had been piled up and 
made into rude huts. This was evidently the work of the barbarians who, 
without knowledge of the past or respect for its relics, had torn down one 
of the most richly ornamented spots in the world and built with the material 
their miserable dwellings. 

Farther on was found the work of other hands. Under the network of 
huts was a second stratum of strong walls which had been built up out of the 
fallen columns into fortresses. This was plainly the work of the Byzan- 
tians, trying as best they could with the material at hand to fortify them- 
selves against the barbarians. Thus the history of the past could be traced 
in the layers of sand that had been washed down from the hills, where 
some one had thoughtlessly cut away the trees. This process going on for 
centuries, spread a layer of sand seventeen feet deep over the soil once trod 
by the ancient Greeks. 

Traces of the Byzantians were also found in copper coins, dated with 
the closing years of the sixth century and by emblems of the Christian 
religion. Their graves were solid tombs formed out of antique slabs of 
stone and tiles, marked with Christian symbols. Among the ruins was an 
ancient building which had been turned into a church. All of the interior 
showed traces of long use as a place of Christian worship 

At the time when these Byzantine priests were holding their sevices in 
these churches, at least half of the temple of Zeus was still standing, the rest 
having been thrown down by an earthquake in 522. Among these prostrate 
columns and broken bodies of gods and heroes the Byzantine children often 
played and doubtless did much damage to objects which are now so highly 
valued as works of art. 



Greece. 413 

The great temple of Zeus was found by the excavators at last, with 
nearly all of its material still on the spot. The broken colums lay often 
directly in front of their old positions in the structure, and but little labor 
was necessary to set them again in their places. Enough remained to show 
the entire size and shape of the temple, and in the broad center isle stood 
the pedestal which had upheld the great statue of Zeus. 

Upon the front of the building was a group of twenty-one great figures 
representing a battle between the Pelops and the king of Troy, with Zeus 
deciding the contest between them. These were allrecovered m more or less 
perfect states. Another group of twenty-one which adorned the other end 
represented a wedding scene, where drunken centaurs rushed in carrying off 
the women, and the Hellenes coming to their rescue. Besides these, were 
many other figures from different parts of the building, and a great number 
of small bronzes, weapons, beautiful terra cottas, and roof tiles exquisitely 
ornamented, the colors still quite fresh. 

While this temple was still in its glory, Pausanius, an old Greek traveler 
and student, visited it and made a careful list of all the statues it contained, 
together with the sculptors who made them. By means of this list not only 
the identity of all the statues could be known but also the names of their 
creators, all of whom were either pupils or companions of the great Phidias. 
Besides these works of art many important documents were found, bear- 
ing on bronze or marble their ancient records. Among them were more than 
four hundred inscriptions, many having reference to visitors at the games, 
and all affording much valuable information. 

The Acropolis .—It has been said that all the old world' s culture centered 
in Greece, all Greece in Athens, all Athens in the Acropolis, and all the 
Acropolis in the Parthenon. This last was the chief gem of all the rare works 
of the ancient Greeks, while the Acropolis on which it stood, the high hill 
overlooking the city, was the casket that contained this and a number of 
other beautiful temples and statues. 

The Parthenon was built for the worship of Pallas- Athene, the warrior 
goddess who was supposed to guard Athens from her foes, and teach the 
people all of their industries, arts, learning, and philosophy. No expense 
was spared to make it a fitting temple for so great-a goddess. Phidias, the 
great artist, who afterward made the statue of Zeus, planned all of its decora- 
tions . He made a beautiful s fcatue of the goddess for the court of the temple, 
which struck everybody who saw it with admiration and awe. It was one of 
the three great works that made his name famous. Like the statue of Zeus 



414 Persons and Places in Europe. 

X 
at Olympia, it was made of ivory and wood draped with gold It represented 
the goddess in all her grace and beauty, with her golden shield resting on the 
ground, and an image of Victory in her hand, as clothed in her long golden 
tunic she received the homage of gods and men. Outside of the temple 
was another statue of Athens, also the work of Phidias, that represented 
her in full armor, her shield and spear in her hands ready for battle. This 
statue towered above all the other objects on the Acropolis, and could be 
seen far off at sea. 

A splendid marble fortress, a kind of gateway, called the Propyheas 
guarded the entrance to the Acropolis from the only side on which the sacred 
enclosure could be approached. Near it stood a greatly venerated temple 
called the Erechtheum, which contained many shrines and statues of numer- 
ous gods, and all the sacred treasures of the city, placed there under the pro- 
tection of Athens. Another beautiful structure, highly ornamented, stood 
near the northern part of the Acropolis, and was called the Lantern of 
Demosthenes. It was hardly more than ten feet in diameter and was once 
ornamented with a tripod. 

All of these once beautiful buildings, which with numerous statues and 
shrines covered the top and the sides of the Acropolis, are now in ruin, but 
from what still remains, and from the descriptions given in various old writ- 
ings, a very fair idea of their old glories can be obtained. The same Pausa- 
nius, who gave such a careful description of the temple of Jupiter Olympus, 
also visited Athens in the days of its greatest splendor, and left a very 
valuable record of what he saw. 

The Elgin Marbles. — The rich carvings and sculptures of the Par- 
thenon remained in good condition for over a thousand years after the god- 
dess Minerva was no longer worshipped. It was used as a Christian church 
for a long time, and then when the Turks captured Athens, as a Mohamme- 
dan Mosque. But in 1687 the people of Venice came to make war on the 
Turks, and one of their shells lodged in the Parthenon, where the Turks had 
stored their power. The explosion blew out a large part of the interior and 
threw down many of the columns. 

Having conquered the city, the Venetians took several of the finest 
pieces of sculpture from the Parthenon, ruining many more in getting them. 
More damage was done in the wars that followed, and neither the Greeks 
nor the Turks, who finally held possession, showed any regard for the decay- 
ing treasures of art. 

In 1799 Lord Elgin, British ambassador to Turkey, seeing the damage 



416 Persons and Places in Europe. 

that was being constantly done, thought it would be doing a service to the 
civilized world to rescue these rare old works before they were entirely de- 
stroyed, and place them where they would be taken care of. He obtained 
permission from the Porte to take from Athens " any stones that might ap- 
pear interesting to him;" and at his own expense, aided by a company of 
Italian artists, he took from the Acropolis, chiefly the Parthenon, a large 
number of valuable statues and sculptures. These are now in the British 
Museum, where they are known as the Elgin Marbles. Many unkind things 
were said of Lord Elgin for taking down these pieces and carrying them 
so far away from the place where they rightly belonged, but later events 
have shown that, had he left them, they would probably have -been de- 
stroyed in the wars between the Greeks and Turks, during which the temples 
were badly shattered, and much more of the rare old workmanship de- 
stroyed. 

Life in" Old Athens. — In the fifteen hundred years that have passed 
since the Acropolis was the glory and pride of Greece, the world has made 
wonderful improvements in many respects, but in others we could well af- 
ford to go back and take a few lessons of the ancient Greeks. If one of 
those old stalwart people could wake up to-day, Rip Yan Winkle fashion, 
he would doubtless be greatly astonished at our steamships, our lightning- 
express trains, our telegraphs and telephones, and morning journals. But 
he would miss his public bath and his gymnasium, and he would wonder 
much that among a people so like the gods in wisdom there should be so 
many weak, dwarfed and misshapen. In his day his people spent much 
time in taking care of their bodies, but little over their toilets. Their mode 
of life has been very vividly described by an English student of the ancient 
Greeks. Of the Athenians he says : They were very early risers, and the 
first business of the man of the house, after performing a very simple toilet, 
was to go out to the market-place to hear the news, to transact business, 
and to make his purchases for the day. If he was expecting to entertain 
some friends in the evening there was no time to be lost. By seven in the 
morning the plumpest of the blackbirds, the whitest of the celery, and the 
firmest of the great eels from the Theban stewponds, would have been 
bought up ; and he would be forced to content himself with a string of lean 
thrushes and a cuttle-fish whose freshness might be called in question. 
Perhaps, while he was counting out his purchase money, he might hear be- 
hind him a sudden rush of people, and, looking around, would see two 
Scythian policemen sweeping the square with a rope besmeared with red 



418 Persons and Places in Europe. 

chalk. Then he would know that a general assembly was to be held to 
attend to some business matters, and he would hurry off to secure a good 
place. And there he would sit, as an old Athenian describes himself, 
groaning, yawning, stretching, jotting down notes and waiting for the ap- 
pearance of the president and the committee to open the meeting. 

After a while the committee would come bustling in ; treading on one 
anothers toes, and jostling for a good place. And then the crier would pro- 
claim : "Who wishes to speak about the Spartan treaty?" and the call 
would be for Pericles ; and Pericles would rise, with his right hand thrust 
in his bosom, and say something that is still worth reading. 

When the public business was concluded, after a light-breakfast, the 
citizen would return to his ship or counting house until the first hour after 
noon, and then he would saunter down to his favorite gymnasium, and 
thence to his bath. The old Greek had a high regard for his body and 
would as soon have thought of going without his meal as his bath and 
physical exercise. 

Some winter evening, perhaps, as this same citizen was hurrying out to 
a dinner party, curled and oiled, and in a clean tunic, he would see a crowd 
gathered in the market glace ; and then he would turn to the slave who 
trotted behind him with his napkin and spoon, and send the boy off to see 
what was the matter. And the slave would return with a grin on his face 
to say that the Thebian foragers were abroad, and that the generals had put 
up a notice containing the names of the citizens who were to turn out and 
watch the passes, and that his master's name stood third on the list. 

And then the poor man would send off an excuse to his host, and run 
home to fill his knapsack with black bread and onions and dried fish ; and 
his wife would stuff wool under his cuirass to keep the cold from his bones ; 
and out he would go ankle deep in the slush, straight into the bitter night. 

Or it might be that some fine morning — or some morning when it was 
not fine — he would be pulling an oar in the middle of a sea-fight off some 
headland noted for shipwrecks. There he would sit on his leather cushion, 
sea sick, sore and terrified; the blade of his sweep hitting now against a 
shattered spar, and now against a floating corpse, as he vainly tried to give 
a strong pull; his mind distracted by seeing one of the enemy's galleys 
dashing through the surge with her beak directly opposite the bench on 
which he was seated. 

The Groves of Philosophy. — On some days our ancient Athenian, 
while walking through one of the plane-tree avenues, or the gymnastic 



Greece. 419 

colonade, attended by his slave, — no citizen ever went out without at least 
one slave — would see a crowd of people gathered about one of the old phi- 
losophers, — Plato perhaps, the uncouth, ungainly man with naked feet 
and thread-bare clothes. All would be listening attentively to the wonder- 
ful words that fell from his lips; laughing when he made homely jokes 
about the business of the tanners and drovers and smiths about him, but 
always finding a charm in his voice and a sweetness in his tone that ma&e 
them forget to laugh after a while in their desire to listen. 

Nothing so stirred the blood of the young Athenians as one of their 
eloquent speakers, and none possessed the power of so moving them more 
than Plato. They would stand transfixed and awe-struck before him, 
straining their ears to catch every word. He touched chords in their 
hearts that brought the tears to their eyes and made them feel as if they 
would like to sit down at his feet and grow old listening to his words » 
There were few books of learning in those days to satisfy the curiosity 
of the active minded youth, but this man had studied all there was and 
thought out much more that was worth listening to. He talked to them 
about the formation of the earth, of the stars, of the body and soul, of 
morality, wisdom, courage, temperance and justice, and pointed out the 
right way of living so as to make the most of their lives. 

About two miles north of the city, upon the plain of Attica, was a grove 
or garden in which Plato opened a school where everybody who chose 
might come to hear him. Among his audience were often women, dressed 
in men's guise, that they might also hear the lectures. Some of those who 
listened to the teachings of Plato became teachers in after years, and 
opened gardens or schools of their own. One of these was Aristotle, who 
opened the "Lyceum " in the eastern part of the city, and who also be- 
came the private tutor of Alexander the Great. 

Among the other philosophers who opened gardens in Athens was Epi- 
curus, who taught that the true aim of living was for pleasure, but that the 
way to obtain the most pleasure was to live simply and temperately, and 
cultivate the mind by study and noble thoughts, for there was no pleasure 
to be compared with that of the intellect. Over the entrance to his garden 
was written: " The hospitable keeper of this mansion, where you will find 
pleasure the highest good, will present you liberally with barley cakes and 
freshwater from the spring. The gardens will not provoke your appetites. 
with dainties, but satisfy you with natural supplies. Will you not be well, 
entertained?" 



420 Persons and Places in Europe. 

The desire of the Greeks to hear the words of wise men continued in 
Athens to the time of Paul, the Apostle; hence he found many people 
there " spending their time in hearing and telling new things." And so 
when he stood np on Mar's Hill, and with great tact drew their attention 
first to their altar "to the unknown God," and then to the true God, he 
found many attentive listeners, who expressed a desire to hear him again. 
The hill upon which he stood, — the Areopagus — was nearly as high as the 
Acropolis; ascended by a flight of stone steps cut out of the rock and lev- 
eled off into an area capable of holding a very large congregation. From 
here both he and the people he addressed were in plain sight of the temples 
and the images "made of gold and stone, and graven by art and man's 
device," which he told them they should not think were not like unto the 
God-head, — the maker of heaven and earth. 

Aisr Ancient Flower-Garden.— With his keen love of beauty, the 1 old 
Grecian saw nothing more appropriate to offer to his gods than flowers, and 
nothing more beautiful to use for his own adornment. At all their festivals 
they wore crowns and garlands of flowers; in the theatres, where an audience 
of twenty or thirty thousand often gathered, scarcely a person could be seen 
without a garland upon his head. At their private parties all the guests 
were decked with flowers, and the room in which they gathered was so thickly 
strewn with them that they served instead of sofas. 

The lover crowned himself with flowers when he went to see his sweet- 
heart, hung garlands upon her door, and adorned with wreaths the statues 
of the gods of love and matrimony that they might grant their aid in brighten- 
ing his future. Scarcely a worshipper ever entered the temple uncrowned, 
and as each deity was supposed to have its favorite flowers, he changed his 
garland for every one he visited. 

With such a demand, therefore, as there was in ancient Greece for flowers, 
their culture was an important branch of industry. Every garden had its 
flower-plot, and the whole was so arranged that every shrub and plant which 
was not ornamental as well as useful, was hidden behind copses of rhododen- 
drons, myrtle, or oleander, which, at the proper time of year became a blaze 
of blossoms. 

No ungainly fences separated a man's garden from that of his neighbors, 
but rows of olive or plain trees thirty or forth feet apart, or loose hedges of 
fragment phillyrea, broken into gaps here and there to admit banks of wild- 
flowers. They had no fear of being plundered ; the wealthy used to invite 
the people to stroll at will through their gardens, and public footpaths 




TYPES AND COSTUMES OF EARLY GRECIAN LIFE. 



422 ^Persons and Places in Europe. 

often traversed private orchards, vineyards and kitchen gardens. There is 
no record that the public ever abused the trust. 

The windows of the ladies usually opened toward the garden, so that 
shaded by amber or purple curtains, they could lean out on the sills of marble, 
or carved cedar, and fill their eyes and nostrils with the early morning beauty 
and fragrance. Before their eyes were waves of peach, apple and pome- 
granite blossoms, and in the distance plane-tree avenues dotted with cupolas 
of white marble glittering like newly carved alabaster in the sun. 

Leaving the house to stroll out in the garden, the first thing encoun- 
tered was a row of rue plants, extending right and left to mark the boun- 
dary of the flower department. Passing this one came in the midst of gilly- 
flowers, pinks, carnations, beds of matted violets, thickets of roses, hil- 
locks of wild thyme encircling clusters of the sweetest flowers, overhung by 
the branches of the smilax or pomegranite tree. 

Here the path descended perhaps into a fountain such as Grecian taste 
alone could produce, water splashed and fell into marble channels, shaded 
here and there by plants which love the moisture, such as hyacinth and war- 
cessus. Fragrant shrubs overhung the tiny stream, where all day could be 
heard the hum of bees seeking after the sweets. Overhead in the boughs 
of the platane or the cedar the wood lark or the thrush sang in rivalry. 
When evening came on the nightingale here began her song; and one of these 
old Greeks, a poet, used to sit up all night to listen to her song. 

A continuous line of such gardens bordered the road-sides from one 
city to another, backed by olive groves with vines trailing along their walls, 
and their entrances arched with golden or purple clusters hung in tempt- 
ing profusion. 

Further in the country were the ruder gardens of those who raised 
flowers to sell. These were enclosed with high strong walls, along the 
southern face of which, just where the busy inhabitants could find plenty 
of sweets, were rows of beehives. 

When a Greek was shut up hopelessly in a city, where he could have 
no garden, he made one on his window ledge, in a silver basket, sculptured 
all over with rustic imagery, if he could afford it, if not, in one of wood or 
osier. In this some native of the distant mountains and valleys was cher 
ished and coaxed to grow and bloom. 

The Heroes of Marathon. — For many years there was strife in ancient 
Greece between the cities of Athens and Sparta. The Athenians were more 
cultured and elegant than their southern neighbors; the Spartans claimed 




MODERN GREEKS. 



424 Persons and Places in Europe. 

the honor of being better soldiers. But when at last an opportunity came 
for the Athenians to show their valor, the Spartans coiild no more boast 
over them in this respect, in fact they had reason to hide their heads in 
shame. For when the great Persian host came before Athens, the Spar- 
tans excused themselves from coming to their aid and left the Athenians, a 
mere handful before the vast number of their enemies. But the men of 
Athens did not stop to count the foe. They knew that an awful crisis had 
come in the history of their country . They knew that defeat meant ruin 
and shame, the loss of their beautiful capital, the enslavement of their 
wives and children and so they prepared for a life or death struggle to 
meet the enemy. Shop-keepers and artisans, merchants and politicians, 
and farmers, took down their spears and shields, pocketed their biscuit and 
salt fish, kissed their wives and walked through their doors with no idea 
that they were going to take part in an affair that all coming generations 
would remember with gratitude and admiration. 

And when they came to the sacred plain of Marathon they did not stop 
to count the foe ; but went on a run straight into the midst of the twenty 
myriads of Medes and Persians. Out of breath, but not out of heart, 
with such line as they could keep, and with such martial science as a city 
militia might recall in the heat of contest, they fought, foot to foot, and beard 
to beard, until the conquerors of the world broke and fled. And that very 
night they marched home to supper — all save one hundred and ninety- two, 
who were lying with clenched brows and wounds, all in front, on the 
threshold of their country. 

Civil Strife. — The glory of ancient Greece went out in the darkness of 
civil strife. With all their culture, their love of beauty and philosophy, the 
Greeks were not above envy, jealousy and treachery. Each one was more 
attached to his particular part of Greece than to the whole country, and 
rather than see a rival take the lead would go over to a foreign enemy. 

Philip of Macedon knew just how to take advantage of their weakness. 
By stirring up their quarrels, and stepping in to settle them, he obtained a 
firm foothold in the country in spite of all the eloquence of Demosthenes, the 
great orator, who saw into Philip's schemes, and warned the people in the 
most burning speeches. His words for a time would have an effect, but be- 
fore the states could be brought to forget their jealousy and unite for 
common defense, Philip was in. Then Alexander came, completing the 
conquests his father had begun, and carrying the arms of the Greeks vic- 
toriously over Asia and Africa. 



Greece. 425 

Alexander's conquests had little effect urjon Greece, for his great empire 
fell to pieces after his death as quickly as it had sprang up. But they 
were left under the Macedonian kings, against whom they began at once to 
struggle. But even then they could not forget their jealousies, and they 
were still quareling amongst themselves when the Romans came and made 
Greece a Roman province. 

King Geokge. — At midnight, on the 29th of October, 1863, the Greek 
steamer Hellas, attended by an English, a French, and a Russian ship-of- 
war, dropped anchor in the Saronic Gulf, near the city of Athens. The next 
morning a barge put off from it, bearing to the shore a bright faced youth, 
in the uniform of a Greek admiral. And from the multitude on the shore, 
assembled from all parts of the land, went up a great shout of welcome. 
From the Peirsens along the road, where passed once the hero of so 
many brilliant conflicts, they went up in a vast procession, amid the wav- 
ing of banners and the flashing of bayonets, up to their ancient city to 
crown young George of Bavaria, the second king of Greece. From every 
window fluttered banners and from every balcony that night lamps glit- 
tered amid garlands of flowers. And all around through the city could be 
heard nothing but one heavy ceaseless roar of excited human voices. 

There were those present on this occasion who remembered a similar 
scene thirty years before, when the first king of their newly recovered 
country was welcomed to his throne. He was likewise a foreign prince, 
and high hopes had attended his arrival. But he had proved too much of 
an autocrat for the Greeks. He failed to give them the constitution he had 
promised, and was at last banished amid the tumult and terror of a revolu- 
tion. 

But fourteen years have gone by since King George, son of Christian IX. 
of Denmark, became king of Greece, and he has safely guided their frail 
ship of state through all its trying times. The Turks have been compelled 
to restore still more of their ancient lands, and the Greeks to-day are looking 
forward to the time when all of Thessaly and Epirus shall be brought back, 
and all of Greece be again united as in the days of old. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE BALKAN STATES. 

A few years ago the Czar of Russia requested the Sultan of Turkey 
to treat more humanely the Christians within his Dominions. Other 
nations of Europe joined the Czar in this request, hut the Sublime Porte 
proudly replied that he could not grant to any of the powers, collectively 
or individually, the right to interfere in the relations of the Sultan of Turkey 
with his subjects, nor with the interior administration of his empire. With- 
out waiting for further action of the other powers the Czar proceeded to 
compel the Sultan to accede to his terms, and this led to the war of the 
Crimea, in which England, France and Sardinia, came to the assistance of 
the Sultan, because they thought Russia was intending to seize upon his 
dominions, and this would seriously upset the " balance of power " in Eu- 
rope. Russia was obliged to withdraw, but she waited only until France 
was engaged in war with Germany, and England alone could not oppose 
her. Then the Czar called upon his subjects to rise to the aid of their 
oppressed Christian brethren within the dominion of Turkey. In a few 
months the pride of the Sultan was completely humbled, and he who had sent 
such a defiant answer a few years before, now sent his ambassadors to the 
victorious Russian generals to agree to any terms which were required. 

The Berlin Treaty. — The terms which Russia imposed upon the Sultan 
were thought rather too severe by the other powers of Europe, but this time 
they met to talk it all over peaceably. Representatives from Germany, 
England, Russia, Austria, France, Italy, and Turkey came together at Ber- 
lin June 13, 1878, and within a month arranged a treaty to which all parties 
concerned agreed. 

The principal features of this treaty were that the Sultan should grant 
civil and religious liberty to all of his Christian subjects, but more than 
that, — 



The Balkan States 



427 



Montenegro, the brave little country that had so long resisted Turkish 
rale should be acknowledged by all Europe to be free and independent. 
Servia and Roumania were also acknowledged as independent countries, 




A MONTENEGRIN SENATOR. 



and additional territory was given to them, for which they were to pay a 
portion of Turkey's debt. 

Bosnia and Herzegovina were given to Austria. 

Bulgaria was formed into a partially independent country, having a 



428 Persons and Places in Europe. 

Christian government, a native militia, and a prince elected by the people, 
confirmed by Turkey and assented to by the Powers. This prince was to 
acknowledge the Sultan as his sovereign, and the principality was to pay to 
Turkey a yearly tribute. 

South of Bulgaria a new province called Eastern Roumelia was formed. 
This was to be more directly under the control of the Sultan, but was to 
have a Christian governor-general appointed by the Porte with the assent 
of the Powers. 

Montenegro. — No more heroic resistance has ever been made by a small 
struggling people against a strong oppressive power than the handful of 
Montenegrins carried on for over four hundred years against the Turks. 
In the very midst of their enemies, shut away from trading posts with other 
countries, with no means of sustaining life but such as they could wring 
from an unfriendly soil, with no refuge but their bleak barren mountains, a 
few thousand men withstood the resources of the whole Turkish empire. 

When the Turks first conquered the Balkan lands, Montenegro was a 
principality of the Servian king, who was defeated at the great battle of Kos- 
sova (1389). But they decided to take poverty and independence among 
the wild regions of their Black Mountains rather than the slavery of Turkish, 
rule. They gave up their little strip of sea-coast and went up among the 
barren hills, set up their little capital at Cettigne and went to work cultivat- 
ing their small patches of ground with their rifles slung at their backs ready 
for the Turks. 

The Sultan hemmed them in with a circle of forts, and every few years 
sent a body of troops to ravage as much of their territory as possible, but 
still they held out. 

When their prince grew discouraged, near the end of the fifteenth century, 
at the constantly narrowing borders of his country and the seeming hope- 
lessness of the situation, and left the people without a head, they gathered 
around their bishop, and he became their leader both in worship and war- 
fare. 

Two hundred years more passed, and the people were almost on th 
point of yielding, when a fresh insult roused them to fresh resistance 
Their bishop was invited into Albania by the Pasha of Podgaritza to dedi 
cate a church for Christian worship. He went, was treacherously seized 
and commanded to become a Mohammedan. Upon his refusal, he was tor 
tured and chained to a large piece of timber, which he was compelled 
drag along the road from one village to another. 



The Balkan States. 4 s9 

The Montenegrins ransomed their bishop at a heavy price and then 
took a terrible vengeance upon the Turks by massacring ^^ 
dan within their borders. Then a fierce war began. The Sultan was deter 
nitaed now to subdue these mountaineers. They were obliged for a tame 
to acknowledge his sovereignty, but the treaty of Berlin released them 
completely from all further subjection. _ 

Servia -Northeast of Montenegro is the land of the Servians or Serbs, 
to which race the Montenegrins also belong. Iu the fourteenth century, 
under Stephen Dushan, the Servian kingdom was extended from the Dan- 
ube and Savi into Thessaly . The Emperor at Constantinople was so alarmed 
at their growing power that he called on the Turks for assistance, a fatal 
step fo both himself and the Servians. A few years afterward, these allies 
had become his bitterest enemies, and taken the land from both Greeks and 
Servians On the plain of Kossova, sixty-four years before the capture of 
Constantinople, the last king of the Servians was slam, and all except the 
few who fled to the rocky recesses of the Black Mountains became the sub- 
el of the Mohammedan Sultan. Then began a " reign of terror for the 
Servians The fact that they were conquered and had to pay heavy taxes 
was galling enough to this proud-spirited people; but far worse was the 
Tcorn thev had to receive from the Turks. They were despised -Rajas," 
who had "no rights that " the faithful " were bound to respect. They were 
forbidden to carry arms, to enter any town on horseback, to repair or build 
their churches; they were obliged to dismount and stand aside for the 
meanest Osmanli they met on the road, and to do for him any personal 
service that he required. They were compelled to receive a kick as a favor, 
and to retaliate for the grossest injury was a crime. But more than this, 
the fairest of their girls and the bravest of their boys were seized and car- 
ried off to become the slaves and soldiers of their conqueror. _ 

ff a " Raja," unable longer to endure the wrongs put upon him turned 
upon one of his oppressors he was published as a criminal and liable to be 
kUled by any passing Turk. His only safety was in fleeing to the moun- 
tains, and becoming a « Heyduc," his hand against every Turk, every Turk 

8g WhenTn Osmanli, laden with treasures for Constantinople passed by 
the lurking places of these mountain « Heyducs," he was quite likely to be 
relieved of his burden, and if he escaped with his life he did well Like 
the Robin Hood men of England, the Heyducs protected and assisted their 
countrymen as much as possible, and in winter came down and lived among 



430 Persons and Places in Europe. 

them, each one staying with some farmer and helping him about his win- 
ter's work. In the spring they returned to the forests again and joined 
their bands. 

Kava George. — In those days of their affliction the Servian peasants 
used to gather around the firesides on winter evenings, listening to the tales 
of the Heyducs, or of Stephen Bogislas, the first founder of the Servian 
principality, who escaped from Constantinople, returned to his native land, 
and after driving out the Greek governors, took up his position near the 
coast, where he seized the richly laden Byzantine vessels ; or of John 
Hunyady, who, though vanquished on the plain of Kossova, gained many 
victories over the Turks and once compelled them to raise the siege of 
Belgrade. And among those who used to feel their pulses quicken at these 
tales of wrongs and of heroisms was one tall man with bright deep-sunken 
eyes, a scar across his face that bespoke at least one fight, and on his left 
hand one that told of another. His shoulders were broad, his whole frame 
spare, but strong and active. In his arms lay his ever ready rifle. He was 
a silent, thoughtful man, — would sit surrounded by his family a whole 
winter's evening without speaking; would not even answer sometimes if 
spoken to. And then suddenly his face would clear, and he would lead off 
in the Kolo dance. 

This man was "Kava George," the founder of Servian Independence. 

From his boyhood he had hated the Turks with all the strength of his 
strong nature. Once when told to stand aside or have his brains blown 
out, though only a boy, he replied by shooting the Turk on the spot. The 
first twenty years of his life had been spent in tending swine and cattle ; a 
few following ones in the Austrian army. When he returned he found his 
country in a worse condition than ever. The Janizaries had revolted and 
become so troublesome that the Sultan threatened to send against them an 
army of another faith. (It would be contrary to the Koran for the Moslems 
to fight against their brethren.) "But who will he send?" said the Jani- 
zaries, " not the Russians, nor the Austrians ; he would not bring a foreign 
foe into the country. By- Allah !" they said, " he means the Raja." They 
resolved to prevent this at once by putting to death all the chief men of 
Servia. They began their work without delay. Suddenly and unex- 
pectedly the foremost men in each district were stricken down. Terror 
seized all the people; they knew not who would be the next. Even the 
poorest feared for his life. All the abled-bodied men fled to the moun- 
tains,, and there they found their Spartacus. Kava George, who had es- 



The Balkan States. 431 

caped lust as he was about to be seized by the Turks, united the flying 
fugitives into a resolute band, and inarching down upon the Janizaries 
showed them that the Rajas could fight for their lives In a little while 
the men who were to have been exterminated, stood before the Janizaries, 
ready to exterminate them. 

The Sultan at first assisted the Servians, because as yet they were only 
ftehtins his rebellious Janizaries. But when these were conquered and 
the Pasha of Bosnia told them they could go home, the Servians were not 
ready to go Men whose arms had been victorious over Turkish soldiers 
could not go back into slavery and perform menial services for those they 
had overcome. They were now determined to have their rights recognized 
This the Sultan was not ready to grant. The Koran said that the Raja 
must not be allowed equal privileges with the faithful. They must be op- 
pressed, and no Sultan could think of going contrary to the Koran. 

So the Servians continued to fight. Kava George was made commander- 
in-chief of their armies, and everywhere he was successful. The lurks be- 
came panic stricken wherever he appeared, for it was believed that he was 
destined always to be victorious. When at last he captured Belgrade, the 
Sultan consented to recognize Kava George as chief of the Servians. The 
unlearned peasants-there were no nobles, no one man higher than another,, 
all had been slaves of the Turks-met and formed a government of their own 
with Kava George at the head. He ruled as wisely as a poor learned peas- 
ant could. He was upright, and maintained stern justice.^ He wore his old 
clothes, and went to work on his farm, his daughter carried water for the 
household from the fountain with the other girls. And he condemned his 
own brother to death for a crime. . 

Two years after the taking of Belgrade, George tried to drive the Turks 
out of Bosnia and Herzegovina and to form an alliance with Montenegro. 
It was a disastrous attempt. He was successful himself everywhere he 
went, but his generals were not. While he was making himself master of 
Herzegovina the Turks were overrunning Servia. He hastened back and 
with the help of the Russians repaired the mischief, but in a peace that the 
great powers of Europe made soon after this, Russia was obliged to with- 
draw her assistance, and Servia was left to the mercy of the Turks. Kava 
George was seized, sent to Constantinople and beheaded. .• 

His work seemed completely undone and all the Servians had fought 
so desperately for seemed lost. But it was not. He had shown them what 
they could do ; he had made them know the feeling of victory ; and three 



432 Persons and Places in PJurope. 

years afterward (1815), a man, who had been one of his most valiant officers 
headed a successful insurrection, and compelled the Sultan to grant a partial 
independence to the long suffering country. This was changed to entire in- 
dependence by the treaty of Berlin. 

Peince Alexandee aid the Bulgaeians. — The little province which 
the Berlin Treaty created south of the Balkans, and named Eastern Roume- 
lia, was a part of Bulgaria, — the people were mostly Bulgarians. They were 
much grieved at being separated and at being placed still more directly under 
the Sultan's control than upper Bulgaria, which had not suffered so much 
from Turkish atrocities as Roumelia. Their chief governor was a Turk, 
while Bulgaria was ruled by a G-erman prince, Alexander of Battenburg, a 
grand-nephew of the German Emperor William, and a cousin of Czar Alexan- 
der III . The result was a very quiet, sudden and peaceable revolution in Sep- 
tember, 1885. The Roumelians seized their governor and shut him up, took 
possession of the important military posts, blew up bridges, cut telegraph 
wires and declared themselves subjects of Prince Alexander of Bulgaria. 

Prince Alexander sent circulars to the powers asking them to recognize 
the union, and telegraphed to his cousin, the Czar of Russia, begging his 
approval of what had been done. He offered to abdicate the throne if his per- 
son stood in the way of establishing union. He said he was much. surprised 
himself at the sudden action of the people, but he felt obliged to sanction it. 
But the Czar was greatly displeased, although Russia had openly favored a 
union of all the Bulgarian people. But Alexander of Bulgaria had not 
ruled his little country exactly as Alexander of Russia wished, and they 
were not on the best of terms, so the Czar replied that " while he did not 
doubt the word of the Prince, he regretted the adventure upon which he had 
embarked, and should take steps to prevent anymore such surprises." 

King Milan of Servia was also greatly displeased and alarmed lest the 
people of Macedonia and Thrace, just south of Eastern Roumelia, should join 
them, and this would cut the Servians entirely off from the Archipelago, shut- 
ting them in on all sides from a seaport. King Milan, therefore, encouraged 
it is supposed by Austria, immediately made war upon the Bulgarians. But 
Prince Alexander in a little while compelled the king of Servia to withdraw. 

He took care to keep the Macedonians from revolting from Turkey and 
joining his people, for he had no such wish as the Servians accused him of. 

All the powers excepting Russia agreed to the union of Bulgarians under 
Prince Alexander ; even Turkey consented as soon as the Prince assured the 
Sultan that he had no intention of throwing off his allegiance to him. But 



The Balkan States. 433 

Russia insisted that the agreement should last only five years at the longest. 
To this Alexander did not propose to consent, but finally did upon the advice 
of the Powers. 

Still Russia was not satisfied, and on August 22d, 1886, a regiment of 
Russian cavalry surrounded the palace, forced their way into the Prince's 
sleeping-room, and took him on board his yacht a prisoner ; first trying to 
make him sign an abdication, which he refused to do. 

This action stirred up strong excitement all over Europe. England sent 
a very sharp letter to the Russian minister, and the Emperor William sent 
a telegram to the Czar, which was followed by the Prince's release. 

The indignant Bulgarians who had instantly risen against the Russians, 
and demanded their Prince's return, now sent a delegation to bring him back, 
and received him at Bucharest with the wildest enthusiasm. A body of 
officers placed a crown on his head and carried him on their shoulders to the 
palace, followed by cheering crowds. But so great was their rage against 
the Czar that the Russian Consul at Sofia was obliged to ask for a guard 
to protect his house from the angry crowd who surrounded it, throwing 
stones and threatening to whip him if he appeared in the streets. 

About a month later Prince Alexander announced to his people his inten- 
tion to abdicate the, throne. " I cannot remain in Bulgaria," he said, " for 
the Czar will not permit me. The independence of Bulgaria requires that 
I should leave the country. If I do not Russia will occupy it." Some of 
the officers wished to detain him by force, but they finally consented to his 
departure, but sent out a delegation to all the powers asking that he might 
be returned ; or if that was impossible, that Prince Waldemar of Denmark: 
might take the vacant throne. Meanwhile Russia is using every possible 
means to prepare their way for taking possession of the unfortunate princi- 
pality. 

Roumania and the Fanavoites. — Until 1859 the country, now called 
Roumania, formed two separate provinces, Moldavia and Wallachia, each 
claiming descent from the old Romans, hence their present name of 
Roumania. Finding themselves threatened by Hungarians on one side and 
Turks on the other, the Moldavians of their own accord submitted to the 
Sultan, and thus gained more privileges than some of the other countries 
that stood out against him. 

Their own princes were allowed to rule, the Greek church remained the 
religion of the land, and no Turks were allowed to settle within their terri- 
tory without special permission. But after a time some of the princes 



434 Persons and Places in Europe. 

sought to throw off their allegiance to Turkey and unite with other 
powers. 

Then the Sultan appointed in both Moldavia and Wallachia Greek gover- 
nors called " Fanavoites," because they lived in the " Fanav " district of 
Constantinople. These Greeks had been a favored class since the capture 
of the Crescent city by the Turks, and had long been employed by the Sul- 
tans as scribes and secretaries. 

The career of the Fanavoite " Hospidar " usually began very splendidly 
and ended very ingloriously. As soon as he received his appointment he 
was taken in state to the Seraglio, where he tasted the soup of the Janizaries ; 
since he was now a general in their ranks by virtue of his new office, and 
then was led into the presence of the Sultan and his chief minister, the 
Grand Vizier. Then the Grand Vizier said, for the Sultan, " TMs man's 
fidelity and sincere devotion to my person having come to the ears of My 
Highness I am graciously pleased to reward him by investing him with the 
principality of Moldavia. It is his duty never to depart from his fidelity to 
my service, but to protect and defend the province submitted to him and 
above all to do nothing against, or exceeding my orders." 

The Hospidar having prostrated himself and kissed the hem of the 
Sultan's robe, then said : "I swear by my life and head to use all my 
efforts in the services of the most just and gracious Emperor as long as his 
Highness will not turn away the eye of his clemency from the nothingness 
of his slave." He then " salaamed" three times, bowed low to the Grand 
Vizier, and backed out of the august presences with his arms crossed over 
his breast and his head bent. 

He returned to his palace and had thirty days in which to prepare for 
his departure. Then, escorted by a great train of attendants, he proceeded 
by slow stages to his future capital. On his arrival he received his 
"boyards," appointed court officers and then prepared for a good time. 
For, knowing that he might be called to Constantinople any moment to 
have his head taken off, perhaps, he tried to enjoy life while he had an 
opportunity. His severest labor was planning how he might get all the 
money that could be squeezed out of the people over whom he ruled. 
Nothing could give him more delight than a message from the Porte de- 
manding a certain number of bushels of wheat and so many head of cattle. 
He at once sent out his officers and collected twice the amount called for, 
selling all the surplus for his own benefit. It is but justice to say that the 



The Balkan States. 435 

Sultan always punished the Fanavoites for such wickedness as soon as' he 
found them out. 

During his reign the Hospidar lived in the most extravagant splendor. 
He had a multitude of slaves around him who never approached him but 
on their knees. When he rose to pass through his apartments, two or 
three seized him by the arms and bore him along, his toes scarcely touch- 
ing the floor, while others very reverently carried the train of his robe. 

At the table everything was served to him in small pieces, so that he 
need make no exertion in preparing his food. Even the bread was broken 
into bits, and the chief cup-bearer always stood behind him, holding in his 
hand a half-filled glass, which at the slightest sign he put to his master's 
lips. 

At one o'clock, when the mid-day meal was at an end, one of the attend- 
ants uttered a loud cry which was to summon the grand coffee attendant. 
He came, and half-prostrate, presented the beverage in a little cup studded 
with diamonds. Going to the window, the same attendant uttered another 
cry. This is to inform the town that His Highness was about to take 
his coffee, and the hour of his slumber having arrived, the town must be 
quiet. 

Then the city seemed to hold its breath. All work in the palace ceased. 
Three hours were given to rest and idleness. There were also three hours 
of respite from the tyrant. At four o'clock the noise of innumerable bells 
announce that the Hospidar had awakened, and all were allowed to move 
again. 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Russia: — 

The Kremlin - 

Sledge Traveling 

Rurik - - - - - 

A Group of Russians 

Napoleon in Russia 

Joan the Terrible 

Peter the Great 

Catherine II. 

St. Petersburg 

Burning of Moscow - 

Coronation of Alexander II. 

Alexander II. 

Penal Colony 

Sweden: — 

Lapp Cradle - 

Lapp Hut - - - - 

Reindeer - 

Norway: — 

Norse Ship of the Tenth 

Century - - - - 
Farm Life - - - - 
A Glacier - - - - 
The Voringfoss - 
Christiania 

Village during the Fishing 
Season - 



PAGE 

- 11 

17 

- 19 
21 

- 25 
27 

- 29 
30 

- 31 
33 
35 
37 
39 



45 
46 

47 



61 
63 

67 
71 

77 

79 



Norway: — 
Lapp Huts 
Peasants 
Frondhjem Cathedral 

Denmark: — 

Copenhagen - 
Cronbey Castle - 
Elsinore 



PAGE 

81 

• 83 

84 



87 
95 
97 



England: — 

Invasion of Britian by Caesar 101 

Dover, from the Sea 

Snowdon - - - - 

Stonehenge - 

Part of a Roman Wall - 

Robin Hood - 

St. George and theDragon 

Shakespeare's Monument 

Room in which Shakespeare 

was born - - _ 123 
Hampton Court - - 125 

Crystal Palace - - - 127 
Granite Quarries - - - 129 
Blast Furnaces - - - 131 
Slate Quarries - - - I 33 
The Thames - - 134 



103 
105 
109 
111 
113 
117 
121 



List of Illustrations. 



Ireland: — page 

Ancient Cross - - - 135 

Giant's Causeway - - 137 

Boyne Obelisk - - - 139 

On the Lee, Cork - - 141 

Ross Castle, Killarney - 143 

Ancient Round Tower - 145 

St. Patrick going to Tara - 147 

Blarney Castle - - - 149 

Oliver Cromwell - - - 151 

Daniel O'Connell - - 153 

Belfast Mill- Workers - - 157 

Views in Belfast - - 159 

Scotland: — 

Edinburg Weather - - 161 

Ben Nevis - - - - 163 

Highlander Performing the 

National Dance - - 165 

Glasgow . - - - 167 

Loch Lomond - - - 169 
Holyrood Palace and Abbey 171 

Mary Stuart - - - 173 

Abbottsford - - 175 

Culloden Moor - - 177 

Charles Edward - - 178 

Peat Gatherers - . - - 179 

Fishermen's Huts - - 181 

Netherlands: 

Street Scene in Holland - 185 
Entrance to the Zuyder Zee 189 

Windmill - 191 

Rembrant and His Wife - 197 

Rotterdam - - - 203 

Storks - - - - - 205 



gium: 


PAGE 


Home Life 


- 207 


Farm Life 


- 211 


Canal at Burges 


- 213 



" The Guard Dies, but Never 

Surrenders." - - - 217 
Fishermen - 221 

Germany: — 

Black Forest - - 225 

Dragon Rock - - - 229 

Spectre of the Brocken - 231 

Emperor of Germany - 235 

Frederick the Great - - 237 

Alexander Von Humboldt 249 

Austria-Hungary: — 
Vienna - 

Dolomite Mountains 
Salt Mines - 
Source of Danube 
Queen Theresa and the 



Young King 
Metternich 

Schonbrun, near Vienna 
Prague _.--.- 

Switzerland: — 

Alpine View in the Snow 
The Matterhorn 
A Mountain Ascent 
Hospice of Grimsel - 
Alpine Dog - 
The Jungfau 
Alpine Flowers - 



253 

255 
257 
259 

265 
267 
273 

275 



- 277 
279 

- 281 
283 

- 284 
285 

- 286 



List of Illustrations. 



Switzerland :— 


PAGE 


Antelopes - 


- 287 


Fisher Girl - 


- 289 


Mountain Guide 


- 291 



Peasant in Holiday Dress - 293 

France: — 

Charlemagne - 301 

Peter the Hermit - 305 

Joan of Arc before the King 309 
Catherine de Medici - - 311 
Man with the Iron Mask - 313 
Taking the Bastile - - 315 
Napoleon Bonaparte - ' 317 
Josephine - 319 

Spain: — 

Gibraltar - 325 

The Alcazar at Seregovia - 329 
The Hall of the Abencerrages 333 

The Court of Blessing - 335 

Bull-fighting - - - 337 

National Dance - - 339 

Statue of Philip IV. - - 342 



Italy: — 

Peasant Children - - 350 
The Sistine Chapel - 351 

Genoa - 353 

Bridge of St. Angelo - - 355 
Eruption of Mount Vesuvius 357 
The Gate of Herculaneum 359 



Italy: — page 

House of Glaucus in Pompeii 361 
Bay of Naples - - - 363 
The Appian Way - - 365 
The Colisseum - - - 371 
Victor Emanuel - - 373 
St. Peters and the Vatican 377 
Raphael - 379 

Mount Cencis Tunnel - - 387 
In the Forum - - - 383 



Turkey: — 

A Harem Window - - 384 

The Bosphorus - - - 387 

Constantinople - - - 389 

Fountain of St. Sophia - 399 

Musselman Women - - 403 



Greece: — 

Interior of the Parthenon 407 
The Parthenon at the Time 

of Pericles - - - 411 
The Acropolis at Athens - 415 
Market of Athens - - 417 

Types and Costumes of 

Early Grecian Life - 421 
Modern Greeks - - - 423 
A Montenegrin Senator - 427 






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